Pages | Chapter 31 | The Beginning of The End of The Erizul Guild

[marsgemwrites]

 The title says it all because it's freaking long!

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Chapter 31. The Beginning of The End of The Erizul Guild

Erin lay outside the church with her head resting on Skereth's leg while Skereth quietly stroked her hair. Most of the guests had gone home, but Erin didn't feel like leaving yet. The rest of their group was sitting a little further away talking amongst themselves.

They'd apologised profusely to Mrs Davion. No one really knew what would happen next. There was talk of another funeral, but given Vechs wasn't technically dead, it didn't feel right. Erin had said she would stay away from them so they wouldn't get hurt. Mrs Davion had said she needn't do that, but her eyes told another story. She didn't want to be around Erin with the looming threat of Blame.

"It'll be okay," Skereth said softly, "we'll come up with a plan to stop Blame and all will be well."

Erin rolled to look up at her girlfriend, "But what if it doesn't get better? What if Blame can't be stopped and eventually he kills me?"

Skereth pulled Erin into a hug, "Never say that again. I won't let that bastard hurt you!" She kissed her softly, "I love you."

Erin looked into her brown eyes and felt tears running down her cheeks, "Y-you do?"

"I am completely and utterly, undeniably in love with you, Green Eyes."

"I love you, too, Skereth. So much."

---

"I have a plan." Chad said ominously. They'd finally got in the airship and were on their way back to Obrary.

Erin looked up at Chad from where she was, once again, sat on the floor with Skereth, "What's your plan?"

"Well," Chad sat down on the stairs that led to the raised level at the stern of the ship, "I think we can get rid of the Erizul Guild for good. It- it's not exactly a very moral plan, but it's for the greater good."

"Go on?" Etho encouraged.

"There are multiple universes, right? Not just Sunreth and Earth?"

"In theory, yes."

"What if we forced them into another universe without any magic or people in? They'll eventually die there without their magic and we'll never have to put up with them again."

Erin's eyes widened, "Chad, that's genius!"

"Hold your horses, Erin," Etho said, "Greenwood is the only living person who knew how to work out what a universe was like before going into it. He handpicked Earth after a lot of searching, Meria and Kerin can confirm this."

The two braks nodded.

"Then we might have to bring this Greenwood guy back," suggested Nebris, who'd got a lift with them, they were dropping him off in Skol Prida on the way.

Erin sighed, "He is the lesser of two evils, here."

"Damn it," Etho muttered, "you're right. But we have to execute this in a way that is safe for everyone involved. I could easily travel to Earth to speak to him, make the conditions and bring him back. I'm sure he'll find a rift to a universe that fits the requirements."

Then Erin had an idea, "Would we be able to send them to another planet in Earth's universe?"

"Another planet?" Chad looked baffled.

"Do you not have other planets in this solar system?" Erin asked.

Chad frowned, "Erin, you're making up words."

"No, I promise I'm not. In Earth's universe there are other planets, all of them pretty uninhabitable. There's this one called Mercury, the air is toxic. It'd probably kill them."

Skereth made a purring noise, "I like your wicked side, Green Eyes." She said as she nudged Erin's neck with her nose.

"Your mothers are right there," Erin hissed, "as are our friends."

"Right, yes." Skereth cleared her throat and tried to focus on the matter at hand.

Etho rolled his eyes, "Anyway, I think we could find a rift that would take them to that planet. That sounds perfect. Just what they deserve."

Erin shuffled in her seat, Skereth was drawing circles on her thigh and she cursed her girlfriend for teasing her in public. Her mind was going to dark places it couldn't go when her girlfriends parents were right there.

"Would you two get a room?" Sevadus shouted from where he was steering the ship.

"Shut up, Whiskers!" Skereth shouted back.

Chad spoke up loudly, "So Etho will go to Earth to get Greenwood, Greenwood will help us find a rift to send the Erizul Guild to this Mercury place. How do we intend to get them to go to this place?"

"Crap. That's a good point," Erin turned to Meria and Kerin, "you two are old, what do you suggest?"

"Your girlfriend has a way with words, dear," Kerin deadpanned to Skereth.

Skereth kissed Erin's head lovingly, "Yeah, she's great."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult-"

"It's okay, I'm just teasing," Kerin grinned and Erin realised where Skereth got her dry humour from, "I suggest you get Greenwood to agree to help them travel to Earth, which they seem to want to do, then send them to the wrong planet."

"Excellent plan, Mrs Luran!" Nebris said cheerily.

Kerin smiled, "Despite what Skereth may tell you, I'm actually pretty smart,"

Meria kissed her on the cheek, "My beautiful genius."

Chad groaned, "Would you women please keep your hands off each other for five minutes?"

Erin laughed, "Sorry, Chad."

---

The following day Erin and Skereth were in a coach on the way to the castle to get a pardon from the monarchy to use the souls of hexers to travel between the realms. They only needed three, but they decided that to obtain four would be best, just in case something went wrong.

Thanks to Skereth's connections they didn't expect it to be too hard of a task. Erin was dozing on Skereth's shoulder in the carriage, they hadn't slept much the previous night. Partly due to Erin being plagued with nightmares, partly due to ways Skereth found to distract Erin from those nightmares.

"Hey Erin," Skereth whispered.

"Yes, dear?" Erin mumbled sleepily.

"I like your shirt."

"That's because it doesn't leave much to the imagination," Erin replied.

"I know," Skereth circled her finger on Erin's chest, "my imagination is good, but I love it when I don't need to use it."

Erin groaned, "I'm tired, Skereth."

"I wasn't implying we have sex," Skereth said slightly defensively.

"Shame, you're good at it,"

"Well do you want to have sex or not? I'm getting really mixed signals here, Erin!"

"Not, I'm tired and who knows what's been in this carriage."

They travelled for another hour before arriving outside the castle. They thanked and paid the driver and asked him to come back in an hour. Skereth put her hand in Erin's and the two of them walked up towards the castle.

When they reached the gate a guard walked up to them, "May I have your names?" He asked.

"I'm Skereth Luran and this is Erin Wicken, we're friends of the Princess. We have an appointment to see her."

The guard looked them up and down, "Yes, I was told you were coming. Follow me," he led them through the gates and up towards the castle entrance. They were taken through the castle and to what seemed to be a meeting room of sorts, "The Princess will be here soon, please take a seat."

The two women sat down at the table and waited patiently, "Is it weird that I'm going to have a meeting with your ex?" Erin asked quietly.

"Not really, I like you much more," Skereth replied kissing Erin gently.

They didn't have to wait long before Princess Cassandra entered the room. Erin had forgotten how beautiful this woman was. She wore a simple dress and her dark hair was tied up in a bun of sorts.

Skereth stood up to go and greet her and Erin felt like she ought to stand, too.

"Hello, Skereth," Cassandra said with a smile, "so good to see you again," she turn her attention to Erin, "It is a pleasure to meet you properly, Erin."

Erin smiled awkwardly, "Nice to meet you, too."

The three of them all sat back down. The Princess interlocked her fingers and leaned on them thoughtfully, "So, what can I do for you lovely ladies?"

"We need permission to…deface some dead souls.." Skereth said slowly.

The Princess blinked, "You make very weird requests, Skereth. Care to explain?"

"Well, these super bad guys in Zopru have promised to kill Erin one day and they've done lots of really bad things, they're the Erizul Guild, have you heard of them?" Skereth rambled.

"Yes, I know of them." The Princess said darkly.

"Well, we've come up with a way to get rid of them, but we need to do this thing where you transcend realms and to do that you need to..."

"Deface some dead souls," Cassandra sighed, "I give you my permission to do so because it is for the greater good. There is a graveyard in Solhold, from there you may pick as many souls as you need to use. One or both of you must be present when this happens, though. That is my only requirement."

Skereth nodded, "Thank you. We will get rid of the Erizul Guild forever."

"I hope you succeed," Cassandra replied.