Before the goddess was a man, dressed in Celestia’s uniform. He knelt on the ground, spear kicked away and hands on his head. 4 veiled women stood around him, halberds poised.

“Lady Auva! So nice of you to join us. I’m Vega. Tell these crazy people to let me go.”

I could’ve sworn a new vein popped on my forehead from the audacity of this guy.

Did he just try to tell me what to do?

“Hello? Earth to Auva? Tell these crazy women to let me go?”

“These ‘crazy women’ are Lady Tenebrin’s veiled ladies, Vega.” Suppressing my anger, I managed a polite sentence.

“Oh.”

“Yes, ‘oh’.”

“Well, you’re above them, aren’t you? Tell them to let me go!”

I’m going to have an aneurysm, if that’s even possible as an Acolyte.

“Well, I can’t order them, because they’re under Lady Tenebrin, that Goddess right there.”

“The curry woman? Yeah, right--”

The veiled ladies stepped closer, nearly pressing their halberds to the man’s throat. I waved them off and walked towards him.

This is strange. There’s no way someone could be this ignorant. I should test him.

“So, back to letting me--”

“You do not order me!”

I grabbed his face, staring into his eyes.

“Why are you here?”

“To find you, Lady Auva.”

“Did I not say I was fine on my own?”

“But you need to be guarded, Lady Auva.”

“And why is that?”

“Because you’re a kid-”

I squeezed, and he squeaked in fear.

“You will not baby me any longer. I am not your child- I am your master. You work for me. I tell you to stay, you stay. I tell you to go, you go. You do my bidding, whether you like it or not, because I am above you. Now, tell me: Do you come with ill intent?”

He shuddered his head, beads of sweat rolling down his temple. Patting him down, I found a talisman-looking object in his pocket.

“What’s this?”

“Nothing?”

Observing it, I noticed a moon insignia among the many grooves and marks. The object was circular, only a few centimeters high and about 10 centimeters wide. Suspicious. My hand buzzed with energy, making Vega flinch slightly.

“What’s this?”

“N-nothing.”

“Tell me or I’ll kill you.”

“It’s nothing!”

“Don’t raise your voice at me!”

Before we could continue further, I received a vision of Vega’s head expanding as he screamed in agony, blood pouring from his eyes and dripping onto the floor. Matching the vision, he yelled, seemingly in pain. Casting a star from my hand, it went through his head and embedded itself in the wall behind him. Vega slumped to the floor, dead. A small clown-like spirit emerged from the body, struggling free of its previous host. A veiled lady caught it, her hand clasping on its tail.

-

In the room behind Lady Tenebrin was a bedroom, seemingly Ianis’. All the Flucti Acolytes gathered inside, discussing the preceding events.

“I dunno about you, but I think we need a witch hunt.”

Calypsis sat, relaxed, on Ianis’ bed as she swung back and forth.

“I fear Calypsis is right.”

Chirus spoke up, whatever concern he felt covered by his mask. Occudium sat in the corner, fingers gently strumming a harp. Today he was male, swapping a scythe for a harp. Short white hair and a glaring white ruffle shirt waved slightly in the air, long black pants partially covering black tap shoes. My phone rang. Celestia. Guess she learnt how to use Siri. Answering, the goddess’ clear voice boomed through the phone.

“Auva! This is important. Our spies have discovered a new magic signature similar to the clown spirit. Its origin is Cairo, Egypt. Take Calypsis and Occudium to investigate. Call back when you find something.”

-

Descending from the sky in one of Celestia’s ‘Moonbeams’, we landed on the roof of Low Dale mega-mall. Peering through the glass ceiling, under it was a large crowd of sleeping people, their captors walking around with large guns. They wore green-red clown costumes, faces lathered in makeup. Upon a makeshift throne sat an inhumanely large clown, dressed in a black-white costume and crown. Like the others, he wore a white moon-marked mask, an axe leaning on one arm. After reporting this, we dropped to the entrance and broke in. Creeping up to level 4, the stair door creaked open.

“Celestia said they had magic. Why do they have guns?”

Calypsis spoke in hushed yet annoyed tones, hissing through her teeth.

“I don’t know, magic guns maybe.”

Occudium had dispelled his harp and instead clutched a vulture-tipped staff. I loosely held my glittery spear, in fear it would give us away.

“I think we should kill them.”

“No, Calypsis. Lady Celestia says we need to investigate.”

He fiddled with his red hair clips as he spoke, absentmindedly levitating above the ground.

“Have you found the child?”

A loud, raspy voice boomed from the crowned clown, its minions sadly shaking their heads.

“Lord Inso, I found him!”

A young boy was pulled up to the clown lord, dragged by his hair. His assailant pressed a red V-reader to his temple, which buzzed and whirred.

“Bring him here.”

The clown lord hobbled to a stand, and reached a bony, wrinkly hand towards the boy.

“Lady Celestia says we should intervene.”

Showing us a text chain, Occudium blew the door open, conjuring a harp and playing a tune. His pale fingers danced softly upon the black strings, a ripple of sound coursing through the air. The clown’s minions opened fire, but the bullets were crushed upon impact with the wavelike effect from Occudium’s harp. It crashed over them, each one collapsing to the floor. Pink souls evaporated from their bodies, desperately clawing to be released from spectral hands taking them to Occudium. With a flick of his wrist, they vanished.

“Hello.”

All that remained was the clown lord, the minion, and the boy. Before Occudium could approach, Inso grabbed his axe, a 15-meter-long bloody red weapon. He grew to the size of his weapon, clasping it in two skeletal hands and chortling.

“An Acolyte from the vulture? I wondered why the police weren’t showing up.”

Calypsis dashed, Occizzor in hand, and sprung above Inso. she shot a bright red cube at him, which impacted with his chest and exploded. He staggered back, winded. Calypsis landed on the clown lord’s back, launching another shot at his head.

“Auva! Don’t be a pussy!”

I summoned my wings, speeding, Celeste outstretched, pointing at Inso. It collided with him, then bounced off. Using this chance to recover, he sprung away. Reaching out his hand, maroon ghost-like creatures crawled their way out of it and flung themselves at us. I flew higher, avoiding them, but the spirits changed their trajectories. Racing towards us, one impacted with Calypsis, sending her flying. Occudium stopped midair and placed a shield which cracked. I threw a star at it, exploding, and neutralising the spirit. Inso dashed towards us, axe arcing through the air. Occudium pulled his harp, transforming it into a bow. A black arrow materialised, pulled, then shot. It lodged itself in the clown’s shoulder, exploding into constricting tentacles, stopping him. I launched myself up, throwing Celeste at him. It once again bounced off, clattering to the ground. I swooped down to get her, but the clown broke his bonds and swung the axe at me. Ceres in hand, I teetered away, and Calypsis launched a red cube at Inso. It detonated on his shoulder, but he remained unmoved as more spirits emerged. They desperately crawled from his arm, flinging themselves at me. Calypsis launched another missile at the spirits, causing an explosion that knocked me into the wall, cracking it.

“You feel your soul slowly slipping away…”

We turned to Occudium, his fingers gently dancing on the strings of his harp.

What’s he doing?

“That’s Messor’s ultimate, reaper’s melody. It steals peoples’ souls, while renewing Occudium and his allies.”

A beautiful melody played, renewing my strength. Inso howled in pain, scrambling to the boy, still asleep like the rest. He placed a finger on the boy’s forehead, a red glow flowing into him. Then the boy opened his eyes. They were deep crimson, black pupils emerging like islands from the ocean. Extending an arm, a wave washed over Occudium and he slumped to the ground. As I flew to him, Calypsis also collapsed. I picked up Occudium’s lifeless body, a vibrating wave travelling towards me. As I dodged, Inso picked up Calypsis, and they all vanished.