CHAPTER 10: SWAN SONG

Originally, the single large book stood at the center of the city, even if the space could hardly be considered a city back then. In time, mice gathered about to see it, first few, then many. This place may have been much safer than the open air, but it still wasn't well protected from the elements, however, and even the early settlers understood the delicate nature of paper. As such, a crude structure was built around the tome. This wasn't a simple task, the book tall and set upright, but with a little cooperation and more than a little trial and error, it eventually happened, and from there, if they could build homes for books, well, why not for themselves? They had little need for such things, in truth, their simple underground burrows working well enough, but the novelty appealed to the early mice, with novelty turning into necessity as generations passed, as it so often does. Living in a basic hole in the ground just started to feel uncivilized. It wasn't long before an actual city began to arise, hidden underneath the rusted wreck.

As for the library itself, it had buzzed with constant attention since then. There were always visitors eager to look at the pictures, but more important were the researchers working tirelessly to interpret the strange runes, and they had made impressive progress in that regard. Along the floor in front of the great text were engravings of each and every letter, number and symbol that had appeared within, set in no particular order. It was along the walls which Dimitri, the head researcher, had been arranging them into set patterns. First came the fairly easy bit, matching the capital and lower case letters. The mice didn't really understand the purpose of the varying shapes depicting the same letters, but the pattern proved relatively easy to recognize and identify. From there, the researcher listed out of all the most common words and how often they had appeared, from there further breaking it down into the most frequent combinations of letters.

All of this had helped the mice recognize the basic structure of the language, but that was about the sum of it. They understood the most basic tone of the text, based on the collected themes of the images, but without any clear connection between those written words and something more tangible, for instance a picture having the word for what it was depicting, they had very little to work with. Their own methods of communication, especially in the early days, were quite primitive, with few words and even fewer grammatical rules. As a result, It wasn't simply a matter of the text being different from their own language, rather it was completely alien.

Over the past month, progress had stagnated. The research assistants continued to work without rest, and while they regularly made slight measures of progress, they found themselves nowhere even close to interpreting the simplest of words, let along the body of text as a whole. They were all experts in their field, but without Dimitri, the head researcher, both as a motivator and a scholar of greater knowledge and intuition than all of the other assistants combined, they had found themselves than a little bit lost.

Still, they would all have to wait for just a little while longer. Dimitri had gone to the movies.

"No." Aaron said.

"Huh? What do you mean 'no'?" Jerin exclaimed. "This is what you wanted, ever since we started!"

"No, it's not. I know you. Sure, you said 'we' the first time, but then you said 'you'. You fully intend to go on. You just plan to do it on your own."

Mathias looked to her with both a surprised and mildly hurt expression. "Is that... is that true?" he asked.

"I lied." The girl said in a quiet voice, paws balled into fists at her sides, looking away from the three male mice..

"Huh?" her brother asked.

"I said I that lied! Back when you asked what the dark lord, the prophet guy said! I told you he didn't say anything, but that's not true. He said that I would fail to defeat Midnight."

"You don't believe that, though." Aaron said.

"I-I'm not sure." Jerin meekly replied, still unwilling to face him, much less the others.

"Yes you are. You're not stupid." He said, before pausing and shaking his head. "Okay, scratch that, you're extremely stupid, but you're not suicidal. I know how much you want to get back at the monster that destroyed our old home, but you don't plan to die over it. If you really thought that it was hopeless, you'd have given up long ago."

"Okay, fine!" Jerin finally looked up, glaring at him. "I think I can win, but I'm not sure, and I'm okay with putting myself in danger, but I can't let anything happen to you guys."

"You know, I was expecting you to say that you weren't stupid, but instead you just went and said the dumbest thing I've ever heard. How do you think I feel? Why do you think I kept trying to convince you that this was a bad idea? Do you think it was because I hated the idea of you having fun? No, it's because if anything ever happened to you, I'd never be able to forgive myself." He said, with a sigh.

"Well, what changed? You haven't been trying as hard to stop me lately." Jerin asked.

"Nothing really. You never listened, and I figured eventually you'd figure out how dumb this whole idea was on your own..." Aaron said, face contorting a bit. That was essentially the truth, even if not 100% of it. There was also the not so minor detail that, for whatever reason, this hopeless mission just wasn't feeling quite so hopeless recently. This wasn't an idea he really wished to express even to himself, however, much less state aloud.

"What about you, Rowan?" She turned to the elderly mouse. "You barely know me. Why are you here, at what might be the doorstep of a powerful dark lord, ready to fight?" she asked, narrowing her eyes, "...And don't you dare say some crap like you're old anyways and it doesn't matter if you die!"

The old mouse hmmmed, giving the matter some thought. "I suppose it was largely on a whim. I had not seen the rest of the city for so long, much less the rest of the world, and in the deep underground, I had found myself essentially just waiting out the days. I would read the same books, go over the same theories, expecting that one day, one day very soon, I would simply go to bed one night and never awaken. That is when you and your friends arrived, with the promise of facing a dark lord. It seemed an invaluable opportunity for research. I had grown increasingly conservative over the months, less and less prone to risks of any sort, but what do I honestly have to fear at my age? What have I to lose, and what harm can this frail body cause through action?" he said with a soft chuckle. "To be perfectly honest, I did not expect to make it nearly this far. I thought those stairs alone might kill me! Quite the opposite, however. Instead, I feel energized, truly alive for the first time in many months. For a little while I had believed it might be the power of that sword of yours, but as time goes on, I think it is something simpler, something more fundamental: It is having a real purpose, something tangible beyond research and equations. Maybe even a sense that once again, for the first time in so long, I could truly help someone. I was truly ready to die before I'd met you. I had been for quite some time, in truth, and knew it was drawing close, but now? Now, even in the face of such danger? I cannot remember the end ever feeling further away."

"You still could die though." Jerin sulked, whiskers twitching.

Rowan shook his head. "I have lived a very long while, and have put my life at risk at countless times during my more reckless youth. I have not come all this way to simply drop dead without seeing this through to the end, young lady. You are afraid you doomed me? Quite the contrary, if anything you have saved me from a lonely death within that dark pit."

Jerin looked away from him, still clearly far from convinced. She raised her head, staring at Mathias.

"What about you? You could go anywhere in the world. Why are you here, with me?"

"There is nowhere else in the world I'd rather be. From the very first moment I laid eyes on you, it's like everything came into focus. Before that, everything was murky, hazy, but you were light, a light which cast all that away, consumed everything, consumed me! The only reason I fear death anymore, if because I know that it will mean I'll no longer be at your side, never again look into those beautiful eyes, never again see that perfect smile. You, Jerin, are my sun, my stars, my everything, and no matter where you go, no matter what dangers you face, no matter what opponents you fight, all I want is to be there with you."

Mathias, of course, didn't actually say this. He considered it, rather strongly in fact, but even in his wildest fantasies, he couldn't imagine a response to it which didn't make things horribly uncomfortable.

"Well, you know. I had nothing better to do. What can I say? I guess I just know a winning team when I see it, and wanted to be a part of it." he said with a smile and an internal sigh. Maybe a rambling love confession would have been a bit much, but he still wished had said something more. A part of him disliked this newfound self consciousness, where he constantly found himself saying either too much or not enough. Nothing he said, nothing he did felt quite natural, quite right. Another part of him relished it, however. How every little action suddenly became a puzzle to solve and a challenge to overcome.

"You people are all idiots." She grumbled, arms folded, turning away.

"Maybe you're right, but you're no better. You either think we're going to win, or you think we aren't. That means we either should all go home together, or all stand and fight. Even you should be able to figure that out. I get it, you don't want to see anyone else get hurt, but the same applies to all of us!" Aaron said, resting a heavy paw on her shoulder.

"Really? You don't want to see me get hurt?" Mathias perked up and said, hopefully.

"Ugh, don't ruin the moment." Aaron said to him, really meaning 'don't make me say that out loud', before looking back to his sister. "So, what will it be? Are we going to win or not?"

"I don't know." She said.

"No, don't give me that. It's not like you to be scared or indecisive. Maybe the idea that someone could get hurt or killed is some grand revelation to you, but we've all known this all along. You know the answer, so tell us. Are we going home or are we going to go to that shrine, find the dark lord, and make him wish he'd never been born?"

Jerin smiled to him. "We still don't know if Midnight is here or not." she sighed before drawing her sword, still smiling, pointing it into the streaming sunlight. "...but whatever we find there, it's going to get hurt. Let's go!"

Her brother, the thief and the sorcerer all nodded in agreement, none harboring so much as a trace of doubt, not even Aaron surprisingly, who usually held an abundant supply. The only trace of regret or negativity came from Mathias, who had wished he had come up with something more impressive to say, a way to tell the young swords-woman how he truly felt, ideally without being punched in the face by her brother in the process. Perhaps that was a rather tall order.

The pipe was a steep climb, but nowhere close to vertical, and not nearly so long as the had group feared, with the ridged surface offering regular convenient footholds. Soon enough they could see blades of grass dancing within the breeze, the space between them a pure white. Upon reaching the outside world, they stood before a shrine, a massive white structure which took up their entire field of vision.

"It sure is big up close." Jerin said, arching back to try to see the top of it, and not quite succeeding. "Any idea what we're supposed to do now?"

"The map points right at the shrine, so I guess that means we're supposed to go inside." Mathias said, looking up from the inked paper. "There aren't any clearer directions than that."

"I guess we just have to look around. With a place this big, there has to be some way to get in, right?" She said, looking to both her left and right, but no obvious entrance existed that she could see.

Rowan wasn't so certain. Shrines, especially the outsides of them, were considerably better documented than dark lords, and while not without their dangers, were a far safer avenue of research as well. There were only a finite number around the city with easy entrances, mostly through underground tunnels (the natural sort, not the Maker's tunnels), with most of the others essentially being impregnable fortresses. These could potentially be burrowed through with enough effort, but even if one happened to get inside without being buried within their own tunnel, or electrocuted by one of those delicious looking wires, or coming across any other manner of impenetrable obstacle, one never knew just what they might find within. With a little bad luck, the first foray into such a place could prove to be both fatal and depressingly short. Even without tunnels, these structures weren't constantly sealed, portions regularly opening and closing, but usually only for briefest of intervals, during which it was virtually impossible to enter undetected. He had the strong sense that it wouldn't be very productive to point this out now, however. Similarly, even he knew it was far too early to despair without giving the shrine a proper investigation.

"Be on your guard. We are not certain what awaits us here. So far as we know, there may well be a dark lord in the vicinity." the old mouse said.

The nearby grass wasn't terribly long, but still provided adequate cover as they followed along the huge wall. For the longest time, there was no sign of even so much as a crack to slip a finger through, let alone an entire body. Far up above were windows, but all similarly sealed, and even if they weren't, they were too high to effectively reach, even using climbing tools. Upon turning the corner to explore the next wall, they came across a set of large wooden steps in immaculate condition, leading to a massive gateway. The door itself was also of no real use. Even if there were some way to unseal it, it was unlikely they could even move such a massive object, and even if they somehow could, it would be a less than covert method of entrance. The prospect of being discovered by a Maker wasn't quite as dangerous as discovery by a dark lord, but it was still something to be avoided at all costs. These steps did yield another opportunity, however: Underneath them, in a place hidden from sight and thus nowhere near as well maintained as the remainder of the building, a large cavernous gap in the stone foundation was found.

"This way." Jerin whispered, leading the four inside.

This did not lead into any the distinct rooms of the inner shine, unfortunately, but rather a space beneath the house, the structure supported by columns of stone and wood. It was dank, dry with the only light source being the sun outside, which although far above and not shining down at a convenient angle, was still enough to partially illuminate the large and fairly open space. The four recognized that their goal was above them (never even considering that the map may have been leading them here), and as they walked past the dusty cobwebs, looking up for any sort of way inside, Rowan stopped them.

"There is magic to this place." He said, looking to the center of the vast dirt floor.

"Huh? What does it do?" Mathias asked.

"I do not know, I just know that it is very old and that it is very powerful." the sorcerer said, crouching down, looking closer, pressing his finger into the indented soil which formed the outer ring of an elaborate magic circle. That was when the others looked down as well, their attention previously aimed above, in search of some manner of entrance. What they found, instead, were pawprints, everywhere, going in all directions, large enough for any one of the mice to sit within.

"We'd... better get moving." Aaron said. "It doesn't look like we'll find a way in through here."

Even Jerin had to agree. This space looked more like a graveyard than a place to do battle.

"Do you have any idea what we should expect?" Mathias asked as they continued to walk along the perimeter of the massive structure. "You and Jerin met this dark lord of yours once before."

Jerin simply shrugged. Her memories of the event, the specific details, at least, weren't particularly clear. The sensation of pain and fear were almost all that she could properly recall.

"I don't really know. The 'meeting' wasn't exactly a long one." Her brother said. "Everything was dark. Not pitch dark, but it was like a deep shadow followed him around. When I tried to attack him, it was like he grabbed me in mid air, only he didn't even move. Then there's those eyes of his. When he looked at you, it felt like the whole world was coming down on you, like you were being crushed."

None of the mice spoke for a few moments.

"So, he's powerful, huh?" The thief said. Surely, an obvious observation, even to him, but he felt as though someone needed to say something.

"Yeah, and not just in a 'big and strong' kind of way, although I'm pretty sure he's that, too. We didn't exactly put up much of a fight last time, so that monster might have other kinds of abilities which it didn't even bother to use. I've got no idea." Aaron said, shaking his head.

"It is to be expected. There are many varieties of dark lord out there, each with their own unique talents." Rowan nodded.

"It doesn't matter." Jerin said, in a calm and expressionless tone. "It'll take a lot more than some dumb magic tricks to stop us."

Just as their prospects appeared to be running out, returning to the sunlight, and following that same seemingly endless pure white wall, they found it. Another window, much like the others, but even from down here it was clearly open, the wind catching the fabric which hanged above them, allowing the soft blue cloth to drift outside. The height would normally have been an issue, but right beneath sat a heavy green coil of rubber (another material mice found useful, but was difficult to gather in small portions), the tip of which ended in a sort of metal pipe, far too narrow for even Jerin to squeeze through, even if she did so desire. Resting in the grass, it could clearly be climbed with little effort.

"This seems a little too convenient." Aaron said.

"How can something be 'too convenient'?" His sister asked.

"Okay, fine. It seems suspiciously convenient."

"Oh, you think everything is suspicious!" Jerin said, rolling her eyes.

"While there is always a slight possibility that the strange mouse had come upon this map by pure chance, we should instead assume that this was an invitation, perhaps even a challenge. That someone, or something wished us to come into this place." Rowan said.

"Better not disappoint them, then." the girl nodded, grabbing hold of the rubber hose and effortlessly climbing up it, without a hint of hesitation. The others followed immediately after, and while the coil itself didn't quite lead up to the wooden sill of the window, the flowing fabric blew closely enough to fall within reach, and proved to be easily capable of supporting their weight.

Even Jerin had the sense to enter cautiously, looking about for any signs of life or movement, but finding no traces. Aaron and the others were stunned by the spectacle, but it was quite similar to what Jerin had already experienced. Sure, the specific ornamentation was different, the overall color-scheme and virtually every core detail, but in principle, it felt very much the same: massive, shiny, and incredibly clean. In truth, the first shrine she visited wasn't very clean at all by house standards, overly cluttered and very much in need of a good dusting, but compared to a city made almost entirely of rust, dirt and trash, it was downright immaculate. Even she, to some extent, recognized the difference here. Everything matched, every object either a bright white or a shining metal, only the soft blue floor offering much variation from the theme of absolute radiance. No small part of her wondered if there were other enchanted weapons or powerful relics to be found in this place, but decided against seeking them out. She had already tried her luck by taking the sword (well, borrowing it), and stealing from the Makers was considered bad luck, not to mention generally unnecessary, considering just how much they readily and consistently discarded. Things like the crumbs on the floor in the other shrine she knew to be fair game, but anything truly useful, such as the sword she currently held, was a different matter entirely. As she looked about, that was one key difference that she couldn't help but notice: Even from their place up upon the granite countertop, the floor was visibly spotless, not so much as a single crumb, scratch or dust bunny to be seen.

"Wow, this place is amazing!" Mathias said in a quiet voice. Rowan nodded in agreement, trying to look stoic and unsurprised, but even he had to admit that although he'd read plenty of reports and descriptions, actually standing within a place like this offered an entirely unique experience.

As for Aaron, he couldn't help feeling annoyed, but then he usually couldn't help but feel annoyed. Dark lord or not, this place was incredibly dangerous. He could feel it in his bones. It was unbelievable that his sister had actually thought to come to a place like this on her own. Somehow, when she had told her family about the journey, he had envisioned a small ruin with the blade on an altar. This place was like a world in itself. Somewhere that you could get lost in. Swallowed up in. Somewhere that no one would ever find you if anything were to go wrong.

"We can climb down here. Be careful, though, these foot-falls aren't as sturdy as they look. They won't break away or anything, but if you're not cautious, the whole wall can slide away. If possible, when going down press in towards the wall. Don't pull at it, not even a little bit." Jerin stated in a calm voice, internally rather pleased to feel like an expert, guiding others into the unknown.

Traveling down from the counter top was somewhat easier than going up, as she herself had previously experienced. The last time she was so excited from retrieving the sword, most of the trip back was a blur. They did tether the rope in place, but even without it, the drop between each level wasn't a significant one, just a little longer than one could easily reach up without tools.

At last they arrived upon the glass desert, or at least that's what it had previously looked like to the young mouse, and this new floor was no exception. It seemed to span forever, even shinier than that of the old shrine. She looked down at her feet, unsurprised to see no reflection connected to them. The blue coloring and varied texture made for a less reflective surface than the other floor, but still, at least a fuzzy and distorted image would normally had remained.

"Try not to look at the ground too much, especially your reflection. It can be... dangerous." she said, a little uncertainly, not entirely sure exactly what had happened on her previous journey, much less why. Still, she figured that whatever it was, it was best avoided. The others had no desire to argue this point, of course. This whole place was strange, alien, unsettling, and none of them wanted to take any extra chances. While Aaron had little faith in the general expertise of his sister, this was one area that he had no intention of challenging her upon.

"I don't see anything... or anyone." Aaron finally said after they reached near the center of the room.

"I don't either... but there's someone here, I can feel it." Jerin whispered back.

"You would be right." A melodic and feminine voice stated from above.

All four of them looked up, not really certain of what to expect, but it certainly wasn't this. A ball of white light, like a miniature sun slowly descended from above, a formless ball at first, but as it reached the floor, it began to take shape. Four feet on seemingly short legs poked out from underneath, a long, thick tail uncurled, a round head with a pair of pointed ears emerged. Once it finally, daintily landed upon the ground before them, without a sound, the long, luxurious, gleaming white fur, previously raised by the descent now released, falling, descending all over the massive creature, draping across every bit of it like a fine cloth. The individual lines and features of the beings anatomy began to grow clearer as the glow gradually faded away, only for everything to be bathed in a warm yellow light as it opened its golden eyes, focusing them on the stunned mice.

"Midnight?" Jerin asked nobody in particular, in a soft voice.

"No, he has dark fur. This-this is something different." Aaron replied, not even daring to move.

"Well, well..." the cat said with a smile and a soft purr, settling down, resting her head upon her thick furred paws, tail flicking up and down against the glossy floor. "I wasn't expecting company. Unfortunately for you, your visit shall be a brief one."

"Are you the one who sent us the map?" Jerin asked, trying her best to sound forceful.

The creature looked down at them, confused. "What on earth is a 'map'?" she asked.

"Let me handle this." Mathias said, resting a hand on Jerin's shoulder, stepping forward. He swallowed, requiring every bit of strength to keep his whole body from shaking as he faced the golden eyes, a chill flowing through him. His throat closed up, the light, beautiful to the eyes still feeling strangely oppressive. Were he standing here alone, he had little doubt that he would have immediately retreated, if he were lucky. Even willing himself to move before this presence might have been a challenge, in reality. Still, a single look to Jerin who showed no sign of fear was enough to bolster his courage enough to approach the terrible beast.

"Someone gave us a paper with a drawing that lead us here. Do you not know anything about it?"

The massive feline rolled its eyes. "You creatures and your pitiful little tools. No, I, of course, have no interest in the silly little treasure hunts of you vermin. I didn't bring you here." She licked her lips. "...but that doesn't mean that I'll allow you to leave, either."

"Really? Because I think you should." the thief replied, forcing a confident smile through no shortage of effort.

The dark lord blinked and chuckled to herself. "Or really? Well, This should be good. And, why, pray tell, should I allow you to live?"

"Well..." Mathias said, clearing his throat, just to give himself another half second to think. "It's obvious that you're a creature of great beauty and refinement..."

"Do you really think that flattery will help you?" she scoffed.

"I don't know. Will it hurt?"

The dark lord paused, in thought. "No, I don't see it making your situation any worse."

"Well then, it stands to reason it will help, at least a little bit, then, right?" He smiled.

She paused once more before nodding in agreement. "Alright, fine, it may help slightly. Not nearly enough to help you survive the next five minutes, however."

"Hey, it's progress in the right direction. I'll take it!" Mathias said in a warm voice.

"Fair enough. Flatter away."

"Now, as I was saying, you're clearly a creature of high class, not some violent savage." He said stepping in closer to her, trying his best to conceal his obvious terror. "Look at that lovely clean fur, and even those claws! Not a nick or a crack on them. Clearly well taken care of."

"Personal maintenance is the first step towards greatness. You filthy creatures would be well advised to realize that."

"Hey, we're not filthy!" Jerin shouted to her.

"Oh, please. I can smell you from here, and it is not the least bit pleasant."

This was true, of course, but in their defense, the four mice did just travel through a sewer. Mathias raised a hand towards Jerin, urging her to remain quiet. She reluctantly complied, but still made no effort to hide her frown.

"Well of course, we can't really be expected to meet the standards of a magnificent creature such as yourself."

The long-furred feline narrowed her eyes. If anything, this just intensified the golden shine. "The flattery thing is starting to get old. Get to the point."

"Okay, okay. I'm just saying that if you did decide to kill us, wouldn't that make a horrible mess?" the thief said.

"Hmmm... you're not wrong." the cat replied, looking from side to side at the immaculate surroundings.

"Especially with that shiny white fur of yours! It must take a ton of work to keep looking so beautiful. You said yourself how filthy and disgusting we are." he said. Meanwhile Jerin was biting her lip, looking very much displeased, "Do you really want to even come in contact with us? Seems like you've got little to gain from it, and it would cause a lot of inconvenience. I'm sure our smell would stick to you for hours, and for what? Just to show us obviously inferior creatures that we truly are inferior?"

The large feline chuckled, closing her eyes. "You... You are a clever one. Relatively speaking, of course. It is nice to see one of your kind who knows their place, and doesn't resort to mindless begging or blubbering." she said. "Very well then. You may depart this place with the precious gift of having met me and surviving to tell the tale. A far, far greater reward than your kind deserves."

Mathias smiled wider, genuinely this time. "Really? Wow, thanks! You know for a dark lord, you're actually pretty reasonable!"

The creature opened and then narrowed her great golden eyes once more, focused entirely on the dark furred thief. "What did you call me?"

"Ummm..." The thief said, or more accurately wanted to say something, his earlier briefly earned air of confidence broken away in an instant.

The massive creature rose to her feet. "I am no 'dark lord'. I am Seraphim, a lady of light. I am not some demon or lowly fiend, and had you pitiful little bugs the slightest lick of sense, you would bow down and worship me, like the God that I am!"

Jerin burst out laughing, and as much as her brother tried to stop her, it was a lost cause, as she walked up alongside Mathias. "Seriously? You think you're a God? That's the funniest thing I ever heard. There's nothing godlike about you. You know who are Gods? The Makers. They see the world and work to change it, to improve it, to improve themselves, no matter how insurmountable the obstacles might seem. They reshape everything in their own image, not because they need to, but because they can, because it's a way of going forward." she said, smirking at the bewildered creature. "Do you know why so many of us worship the Makers? It's not because they're bigger than us, it's not because they're stronger than us, it's not because they're smarter than us, and it's not because they could kill us easily if they really wanted to, even though all of those things are true. We look up to them, sometimes even worship them not because of what they could do to us, but because they are everything that we want to become.

"It's not because we fear them, although we sometimes do. It's because we admire them, and they make us want to better ourselves, and become even a tiny bit of what those strange creatures are capable of." she said. "You're right, though. We shouldn't call you creatures 'dark lords'. You're lords of nothing. All you know how to do is kill and destroy and spread misery. Real Gods, even real lords want to lead, to rule, to build, not just to dominate. No matter how much bigger you are, how much stronger you are, or even how much smarter you are, you'll never be a God. You won't even be a person. You'll just be some monster to be hated and feared, because that's all your kind really cares to be."

The large feline sighed and shook her head, chuckling once again. "Your words aren't even vexing, they're simply pitiful. The idea that a creature can understand so little and yet stand before me, thinking that they are my equal is like some sort of cosmic joke. Do you really think that you are worthy creatures just because you stick pieces of garbage together, trying to copy the humans?" A series of strange squares of white light appeared above her head, in a grid-like pattern, a strange tendril of energy from each corner meeting in the center of said squares, each readily expanding. "In truth, I should thank you. I had grown rather complacent in recent months. You speak of greater purposes, and that friend of yours nearly made me forget my own. One far more important than building. Something which building cannot even happen without, the starting point of all creation."

"Oh yeah? And what's that?" Jerin sneered.

"The reason that you call us 'dark lords', of course. The reason that you, rightfully, see us as the enemy. The reason that you fear us. It is because your kind, all of your kind, are an impurity. A hideous blight upon these lands. You weren't wrong, however. My purpose is not to build." She grinned, revealing fangs only slightly less white than her own coat. "My purpose is to cleanse."

Jerin had no idea why Mathias had tackled her, it seemed to come out of nowhere until she saw the beams of energy which emitted from the center of each of the floating shapes repeatedly pummel the spot she had stood just moments before.

Then, the strangest thing happened: in a beautiful, unearthly voice, the dark lord began to sing. "Time and again, the days come to pass, legions step up, the weak and the crass, they cry to the heavens, salvation they seek, they grovel and plead, the cowards, and the meek."

Mathias raised his bow, firing several bolts aimed at the face of the creature, but they pierced straight through, ripping holes in the now wavering and hollow form. Small balls of light floated from it, zipping past the mouse merging together behind him. There, in an instant, the vanished form of the white cat reformed, and the singing voice resumed, right in his ear. More of the strange glowing disks appeared overhead.

"They grow, they consume, their feeble minds dulled," the dark lord sang, "It comes to us, the true leaders, corruption be culled."

Jerin drew her sword, leaping at the long furred beast, but just as Mathias had experienced, her blade caught nothing, slicing through the empty air, the dark lord vanishing once again. In its place, four of the square disks hovered, gathering power in their centers, firing straight at her. She managed to raise her shield in time, barely, each of the powered white beams of light leaving a small dent where they had struck, pushing her backwards along the glossy floor.

The dark lord reformed between the two groups, Aaron and Rowan to one side, Mathias and Jerin on the other.

"You don't know corruption, no leader at all" Jerin sang, fairly well all things considered, "Another false queen, who's awaiting her fall!" a pair of the floating disks drifting in place began to waver, losing shape and eventually vanishing entirely.

Mathias quickly loaded and fired another eight bolts in rapid succession. Four launched from the crossbow, a brief pause followed by another four paper bolts, all of which landed direct hits on the empty air, and inflicted just as much damage to it as they did his opponent. Once more Seraphim, the so called lady of light split into bright orbs, in an instant reforming, now directly in front of Jerin paw already raised to strike, claws extended. Mathias rushed to her aid, only to be blocked by more beams of light, tearing up the ground in his path, the dust from the now ruined tiles blocking his vision.

"Awaiting, do you say? You should fall and pray," The smiling white feline called, "Come now, close your eyes, I shall show you the way."

The young swordswoman had no time to react. To say that the feline had moved at the speed of light would be quite an exaggeration, but for all intents and purpose, it might as well have. It was ready to slice straight through the surprised mouse, when out of the corner of the dark lords eye, it spotted a dangerous glow heading it's way. She turned to face both the elderly mouse and the larger one with the drawn hammer, summoning several of the remaining disks to shield her from the salvo of magical stones.

"Hark, vile demon, your rule is soon ended, from pain and death, from ruin, souls rended," Rowan sang out, in a strong operatic voice which caught his allies, as well as his opponent very much off guard. "You claim false righteousness, preach nothing but lies. Mighty may you be, but completely unwise."

The remaining square disks all wobbled, and faded, struggling but ultimately failing to maintain their cohesion. The dark lord herself seemed to wince a little at the words, and as the floating objects grew less corporeal, she became more so, looking less like pure light, and more, at least a little more, like a creature of flesh and bone.

"We shall show you true cleansing, your power shall falter..." Rowan belted out the lines, before forced to cover his mouth, trying to stop a fit of coughing. "Ah alas, oh dear me... could you please spare some water?" this last line coming out as barely a croaked whisper.

Seraphim grinned wide, all of the floating disks regaining their strength and shape. "And so the weak crumble, the righteous stand tall..." she sang. More and more of the bright glowing runes appeared, nearly all focused upon the old mouse, gathering energy, "The unworthy purged, the corrupted to fall."

Aaron rushed the gloating dark lord, hammer raised, nearly reaching her before he looked to his left, seeing several of the strange two-dimensional squares hanging in the air, tilted sideways, right next to him. They fired in rapid succession, him able to shield himself with his weapon and wooden armor, but it was still enough to send him flying, sliding on his stomach across the smooth floor.

There's something wrong here, Mathias thought to himself. It wasn't the singing either, that's just the sort of thing that occasionally happens in battles, after all. Still, he knew that he was missing something. Something vital. When he had fired at the creature earlier, he had intended to shoot as quickly as he could, but there was a pause between the volleys. This wasn't time spent reloading, and it wasn't very long. Still, he didn't intend to do so, and had no idea why it had happened.

He saw Jerin rush in towards the now helpless sorcerer and followed suit. As he did, he turned to shoot at the feline once more, another eight bolts. four and four, yet again. For a moment, there were three of the white cats visible, each image partially overlapping one another, until the two afterimages faded away. None of his bolts had hit.

Jerin managed to raise her shield just in time to deflect the series of rapid blasts targeting Rowan. "We're not finished yet, don't think that you've won!" She sang.

"Foolish vermin, this was finished, long before it begun." Seraphim sang, loud and strong. There were no longer several of those square panels in space, not even many, instead they were everywhere the mice looked, with only faint, uniform gaps visible between them, forming a vast shimmering grid, as the runes entirely filled the sky. Each glowed, in unison with bright white light, and that was when Mathias had figured out what was happening. Those pauses. They matched the beats of the song. That isn't good, he thought, as every one of the strange panels fired upon the three mice at once.

Jerin had her shield and sword to guard herself. Mathias quickly fired at as many of the odd distortions as he could. Rowan, still coughing, had still managed a sort of magical barrier to protect the three. These defenses worked quite well, even if not nearly well enough. Those beams of energy, thankfully, weren't quite as dangerous as they had looked. Perhaps it was because there were so many of them, the power of each diluted, but despite countless escaping the guard of the three mice, they were not torn to ribbons. Each one did, however, offer a sharp and painful impact, and they kept coming and coming. When the smoke finally cleared, all three of them were on the ground, fur singed, clothes in tatters, struggling to regain their footing.

Seraphim narrowed her eyes at the sight of this. Her divine pillars should have reduced the small creatures to dust, and yet they could still move. It couldn't have been their feeble defenses which protected them, her powers existing to root out corruption and the unholy, wherever it may hide. The lord of darkness didn't even consider for a moment that perhaps that the creatures were not as unholy as she had previously assumed. She couldn't even begin to consider such a ludicrous prospect.

I know what's going on now, Mathias thought to himself, panting as he worked his way back up onto his feet. The question is, what to do about it? No matter what attack I try to make, won't it be playing right into the dark lords paws? We have to do something. Not only is this creature bigger and stronger than us, it's controlling the flow of the battle, and so long as that continues, we don't stand a chance. That's when he finally got an idea. It was, indeed, a long shot, but it wasn't as though they had anything to lose.

Unfortunately, singing wasn't the thief's strong suit, as his education was more in modern dance. "Aaron, we're all hurt, we can't continue to fight! We need you to defeat her, to shatter her light!" he sang out, his efforts barely causing the countless floating disks to waver and, in turn, only briefly stopped their assault. Within an instant, however, they once again shined brightly, ready to fire off another barrage of magical energies towards the three weary adventurers.

"Why are you saying, that we can't fight? Of course I can still-" Jerin said, stopped by Mathias who clamped a paw over her snout.

"Don't listen to her! Move in for the kill!"

Aaron gulped and cleared his throat. He brushed himself off, rising to his feet, and walked towards the shimmering white feline. He hadn't exactly been having many wins these days, and wasn't at his most confident, far from it, in fact, but there was no way that he was planning to back down and let himself be defeated in this downright ridiculous situation.

"So still you can stand, though your spirit is worn." She sang, smirking. The many floating disks surrounding the beleaguered party members simultaneously blinked out of existence, only to surround Aaron from all sides. "To pieces I'll rip you, from bones your flesh torn."

"Well, uh..." Aaron sang, trying, poorly to sound strong and defiant. "I'll hammer your face... really hard!"

"Huh?" She replied, the disks all beginning to warp and distort.

"Then I'll send you running... toward... um..." He sang, or at least tried his very best to.

"Do not waste your breath, accept your defeat!" The cat followed trying to set him back on track.

"But that wouldn't be... neat? Damn, too many syllables there." He muttered the last few words.

"Wait a minute, you..." She growled, claws digging into the floor in frustration.

"You should, uh, run away and go hide and then you should leave us alone..."

"Stop right there..." She snarled between gritted teeth, the floating panels struggling to maintain any sort of cohesion.

"Then we'll all walk fast and go... home?" Aaron sang, honestly believing that he was getting better.

"Enough!" She shouted, her voice no longer melodic and peaceful, now roaring like thunder. The disks didn't blink out of existence, nor did they fade away, instead they all simply shattered like glass, raining down all as a cascade of sparks which fizzled out upon the floor. She glared at the mouse, no longer making any effort at maintaining even the loosest of rhythms. "I was going to grant you a beautiful death, but instead you wretched creatures can't help ruining everything you get your filthy little paws on!"

The golden eyes which had previously radiated a warm yellow glow were now piercing and filled with hate, the dark lord starting to live up to it's name, no longer looking like a luminous cloud, shadows now outlining its form. Before it appeared more like a ghost, a nimbus, a being of radiance, but now, through it's thick fur, the strong muscles, he clenched paws, the darting tail, and the powerful predatory features which were formerly hidden, now stood out for all to see. Now it truly looked more like a monster than an angel.

"No more mercy." She snarled, mouth open wide, showing teeth which looked almost too large for the mouth. The tiles beneath her feet shattered into pieces, the tiny particles floating upwards, caught in the terrible aura of the massive feline. The creature leapt in front of Aaron, completely dwarfing him in size, raising a single heavy paw, claws extended. "And no more games. If you creatures wish to live like uncultured savages, you may die like them as well."

Aaron was prepared to defend himself verbally, but defending himself physically proved to be a much greater priority. He dove and rolled to his left when the paw came down, it barely missing him, further shattering the tiles where it had struck, leaving a smoking crater. Unfortunately, the dark lord had more than one paw, and even as he was regaining his footing, the other was already about to strike.

The paw withdrew before it could land a killing blow, the dark lord shielding itself from the many small paper darts which pelted it's fur, and the shimmering stones which repeatedly burst into tiny fireworks against the face of the great feline. None of these attacks seemed to inflict any real damage, clearly more of an annoyance than anything, but a distraction is a distraction, and the large mouse already had his hammer raised to guard himself, even if he suspected that it would have done little to shield himself from the strength of the paw swipe, much less the sharpness of the claws.

He could have swung the hammer upwards, aiming for the head of the dark lord, but it wasn't an easy target, constantly moving, the raised paw shielding the face, and high enough up that he would have struggled to even reach her chin. Instead he swung it downwards, with as much force as he could possibly muster, crashing it hard against the toes of the one front foot-paw still planted upon the floor.

The creature let out high pitched yowl, and despite the fact that Mathias' and Rowan's ranged attacks had also hit their mark, he found himself surprised that the strike didn't simply phase harmlessly through her. Seraphim fell forward, nearly landing on Aaron who had barely managed to back-step away, the felines chest and all four paws splayed out on the floor. It appeared to be unconscious at first, until its eyes flew open, that malevolent golden glare focused on the hammer wielding mouse, raising her head. At a result, it had failed to even see Jerin's attack coming. It was an impressive one, a mighty leap, gripping the blade with both hands, and in mid-air, she swung it down in a wide sweeping slash, straight between the eyes of the dark lord, scraping just above its nose, with nearly enough power to actually break the skin.

"My face!" It shrieked, pressing the previously hammered paw to its nose, "What have you done to my beautiful face?!"

The dark lord Seraphim rose up and let out a roar, a long low one, barely audible, but it seemed to make the entire world shake. It withdrew its paw, revealing the trivial wound, the faintest hint of a pink line visible beneath the white fur, and stomped the foot down upon the ground. The debris covering the formerly immaculate floor floated upwards, not just bits of dust but larger stones as well, as did the fur of the creature raise, as though she were standing on a high-powered fan pointed to the sky. That was when the entire creature appeared to become bathed in white flames. The raised fur danced, glowing unnaturally bright, once more turning the beast into an almost featureless white silhouette, aside from two balls of intense yellow fire set in the middle of the feline face.

She turned her attention back to Jerin, but didn't seem to move. That was when, for the second time today, the girl was tackled out of the way of certain death, this time by her brother. When Jerin looked up, the dark lord was no longer there, instead she saw was a long scorch mark in the floor forming a trail to its new position at the other side of the room. She didn't need any help this time, as both she and her brother darted in opposite directions, the four legged flame rushing once more. It didn't stop this time once it missed it's target, rather simply bouncing off of the wall, leaving a blackened burn in its place, towards Mathias and Rowan, both of whom had similarly scrambled for cover under a wooden chair. Seraphim didn't so much aim, more relying on speed to try to be everywhere at once, loosely charging in the direction of any targets of opportunity, but mostly bouncing in all directions, from wall to floor to ceiling at a blinding speed. Jerin set herself under the set of drawers, her brother beneath a large metal machine which he could not begin to understand the purpose of, with the thief and sorcerer trying to hold their ground the best they could, striking at the fast moving creature. Mathias had some degree of success, but the small paper bolts ignited before they could even touch the flesh of the dark lord, whereas Rowan could not land an attack at all. His magical orbs moving too slowly, but even if they were instantaneous, his weakened eyes could hardly follow the movements of the creature. While their cover could, at best, be considered better than nothing, they knew that it would not keep them safe forever.

Jerin grew impatient, waiting until the creature bounced in the opposite direction before rushing out on all four legs to the middle of the floor, sword drawn. The cat actually stopped, just for a moment, and seemed to smile, although it was virtually impossible to make out the mouth within the cloud of fiery white radiance.

"What are you doing? Get out of there!" Aaron called, but had his sister heard, she didn't seem to listen. That was when the dark lord charged once more.

Jerin once again gripped the sword in both hands, holding it out in front of her, both feet planted on the ground as firmly as she could. Her shield couldn't hope to fend off an attack such as this, and she knew that her only hope was to match aggression with aggression.

As Seraphim ran forwards, she had no doubt that she could destroy the mouse with this charge, but while she didn't have much fear of that sword, rushing into it head first at full speed wasn't something that she looked forward to. Turning in either direction wouldn't work, either, as she'd simply skid on the slippery floor into it. She has to jump up, which she did. Jerin raised the sword higher as the white creature became airborne, increasing the angle the blade was pointed straight upwards, but even then, the dark lord only felt the faintest tickle as the tip of the blade brushed against the fur of her belly. She couldn't help but laugh, looking down at Jerin, who was still facing forward, towards the place that the beast had previously attacked from, unable to react even close to quickly enough to follow the felines movements. Now, it was only a matter of bouncing back, to strike the foolish mouse from behind. Then it's one down, three to go.

In truth, rather than looking down, the cat should have been looking forward. As it turned out, her path towards the wall wasn't quite as unobstructed as she had anticipated. What followed were three distinct sounds: a metallic clang as the dark lord smashed head first into a round metal plate, then a mixture of crunching, sloshing and rustling paper as she fell down into the waste receptacle bellow, and, finally, a rather anticlimactic thunk as the cover of it, the very same metal plate that she had inelegantly rammed into a moment before, fell shut.

Jerin blinked and looked back over her shoulder, not entirely sure what had happened, searching about, trying to see where Seraphim had gone. Finally, her question was answered with a series of dull paw-taps against the inside of the metal can, followed by a soft, helpless meow.

"I think we won?" the girl said, more than a little bit bewildered.

"Yeah." Aaron replied as he and the others approached her from their assorted improvised shelters. "How exactly?"

"It's simple." Mathias said. "We were all drawn into the dark lords song, so we were forced to fight at her rhythm. Rowan did pretty good earlier, and almost managed to take control away from her..."

"I used to be a member of a cappella group in my youth. Had I planned on singing earlier, I would have done my vocal exercises this morning." Rowan said, still sounding rather hoarse, even by his standards.

"...unfortunately, he wasn't able to, and as a result none of us were really able to out-sing her." the thief added.

"I thought I did pretty good for improvising..." Jerin huffed.

"The overall rhythm felt questionable at best. They rhyme scheme similarly weak. I'll agree we did adequately given the situation, but am thankful there was no audience to judge our performance." Rowan said, even if he could barely croak the words out. Despite the pain, as an aficionado of music himself, he couldn't allow such criticisms to go unsaid.

"Wait, how come you're saying this ridiculous nonsense as though it were common sense?" Aaron asked Mathias, shaking his head.

"It's not too uncommon. That's why bards are popular in adventuring groups. Well, you know, that and documenting their victories and stuff. They don't tend to be anywhere near that powerful with it, though."

"So what, is it like some kind of hypnosis?" Jerin asked.

"No, it's closer to bending reality. Usually a singer can just, say, make the group a little more lucky or something." Mathias added. "Anyways, the only way to break the spell was to get someone who's completely tone deaf and has absolutely no sense of rhythm, so that the dark lord could no longer keep up."

"I'm not completely tone deaf." Aaron grumbled. "And couldn't you have just, I don't know... sang badly on purpose?"

"Of course not, don't be silly! It needs to be genuine!"

"Wow, it sounds like we should get a bard in our group." Jerin said.

"No way. This was the worst experience of my life, and the nearly dying wasn't even close to the worst thing about it. If I never again hear another song while fighting, it will still be too soon." Aaron shook his head.

"Yeah, he's probably right. Bards are all ego, and always just want attention. They're more trouble than they're worth." Mathias nodded in agreement.

"Well, I, for one, found the experience to be very enlightening." Rowan said, regaining a little bit of his vocal strength. "It is a shame I only had a brief chance to observe the light magic. I have no doubt, there is much more that I could have learned from this Seraphim creature."

Tap, tap, tap. Mrowr?

Jerin blinked, looking about for the source of the faint noises before walking over to the shiny metal pail. "Do you know where to find the dark lord, Midnight?" she asked.

"I don't know. I have no idea where he lives." there was a brief pause. "Hey, can you let me out? It really stinks in here." Seraphim said in a hopeful, slightly muffled voice.

"Um. No. Sorry." Jerin replied, looking away.

"Oh... okay." said the soft, dejected feline voice.

"Um, it's just that..."

"No, no, you don't need to explain. I get it." the trapped cat sighed. "I get it."

Tap, tap, tap. Mrowr?

"We... should probably go." Jerin said.

"Agreed. Let's never speak of this again." Aaron said. Mathias and Rowan similarly nodded, the later of which popping a lozenge into his mouth as the group walked away.

There wasn't a grand homecoming as the four returned to the underground undead colony. They hadn't left all that long ago, after all, with most of the citizens not realizing just how dangerous their mission was. It's difficult to maintain an objective perspective on danger while immortal, after all. Despite that, everyone was still quite glad to see them. Despite Aaron's insistence on pretending that the previous adventure had never happened, the citizens were eager to hear the tale, along with any others, and really, anything else that the living mice wanted to say, no matter how pointless or absurd.

Grace and Jerin went off on their own to explore, and play-sword fight. One might think that the novelty of playing with swords would wear off after you'd actually had chances to fight with them, but they both enjoyed themselves immensely, even if they had to be extra careful not to harm one another, seeing as how their weapons were both quite deadly. They didn't play for long, however. It had been a long day, and even if they had managed to escape the ordeal without being badly hurt, Jerin, along with the others, had still found themselves very, very tired.

By this point, it would be nearly morning before they had made it back to the city, so instead the group simply camped here, Grace cuddling up against her new friend as she slept. Aaron didn't entirely approve of this, thinking that his sister should avoid touching a mouse that has actual parts falling off of her, but he couldn't think of a polite way to say so, and instead decided to simply leave the matter be.

As for Grace, she, like all others of her kind, didn't sleep, and instead simply laid awake next to Jerin as she quietly snored, the young adventurer falling asleep nearly the moment that her head had hit the pillow, which was, in this case, a rock. The deceptively old mouse smiled, making sure to not make any noise to wake the other girl. It had truly been a great day, the first she had experienced in a very, very long while.