Deep within Lykopis' home was a temple to the old gods. She had made it herself and no one was allowed to enter but her. Within the center of the room stood a small altar, lit by several candles. The She-Wolf walked into the furthest corner of the room, as far from the light and as deep into the shadows as she could and softly spoke a name.
". . .Edmund. Edmund, I know it's been a long time and the world has gotten very strange, but if you can hear me, I need to speak with you."
Lykopis waited for a few moments. Nothing. She began to count off minutes. She started to grow impatient.
"Damn you, Edmund, do not make me beg!" Lykopis tapped her foot for a few moments before deciding it was a lost cause. She turned and began to leave the temple.
A voice stopped her.
"Princess."
The voice came from everywhere and nowhere.
"Princess allow me a moment."
She looked back as the darkness of the room began to expand and congeal in the center of it. The shadows began to take the shape of a tall, thin man in a dark suit with a widow's peak hairstyle. He was wearing dark glasses even though he couldn't have possibly needed them in this room. His suit, although obviously tailored for him, was ripped and torn in several places. Streaks of dark cloth hung from his limbs and dark liquid was spattered across him. A pale arm hung about his neck attached to nothing yet gripping a curved blade. As the man finished materializing, he stepped out of the shadows and a scream permeated the chamber as the arm around his neck spat out black liquid and released it's grip on the blade. The blade clattered to the floor loudly as the arm landed next to it. The man smirked as the scream faded. Edmund Gaunt, the Shadow Chancellor, had made what was for him, as close to a dramatic entrance as possible.
It was quite difficult to stun the long lived She-Wolf, but then Gaunt had a way of doing the "quite difficult" with equal amounts of finesse and aplomb.
"Edmund. . .what. . .?!"
"Forgive me, Lykopis. I was in the middle of preventing the assassination of a high ranking official within the Umbra. Allow me to clean up my mess." Gaunt half bowed with sincerity as the shadows began to move forth covering the arm, blade, and Gaunt himself. Within a nanosecond they receded, and Gaunt's suit had been repaired, the dark ichor was wiped clean, and the arm was gone. Only the blade remained, now held within Gaunt's hands. He extended them towards Lykopis.
"A gift. Something for your trophy room. A blade of the assassins guild of the Umbra world."
Lykopis took the blade and studied it's onyx hilt and the unfamiliar markings upon it.
"The history of the assassins guild and of the bearer of the blade is inscribed upon the hilt of each blade. For an assassin to lose his weapon is a great embarassment and is punishable by stripping of their rank, uniform, permission to traverse the Umbra, and death." Gaunt peered down as his strange eyes looked oover his glasses, he was still smirking somewhat. "Not always in that order."
Lykopis looked away from his eyes, as it gave her a headache."Thank you, Edmund. It is a fine weapon."
"I sense that this is not a social call, Lykopis." Gaunt stepped over to a wall and studied one of the shields that hung from it.
"No, it is not. Would that it were. I do miss the friends I have made in Vanguard. Edmund, I need something. I have undertaken. . .a quest. . .an oddyssey. The Gods of Olympus have been struck down and I have joined with others like myslf to search for their murderer. But I fear we will not be enough. Edmund, will you help us?" There was a look in Lykopis' eyes that in any other woman would be pleading.
Gaunt studied the shield for a long moment before speaking, his back still to Lykopis. "I cannot."
"Edmund. . ." Lykopis shook her head, somewhat angrily.
Gaunt slowly turned towards his former teammate. "I cannot join you on your journey. However, I will help you, and perhaps, we can help each other." Gaunt reached within his coat and pulled out a small, folded slip of blue paper. He handed the paper to Lykopis. "There is someone at this address that I have been meaning to look into for some time. I suspect he may have the spark of divinity that your allies seek. Now if you will excuse me, dear Ly-Ly, I must return to my business. Farewell, Princess." Gaunt melted back into the shadows and vanished from the temple even faster than he'd arrived.
Confused, Lykopis unfolded the scrap of paper. The side that she was looking at was blank except for several words written in a fast scrawl: "The Void also gazes into you."
"Isn't it the abyss?" She thought before turning over the paper. On the other side was a photocopied image of what seemed to be a gothic industrial rock band with a show date and time beneath them. The show was scheduled for this weekend in Atlanta, Georgia.
A sudden realization crept across Lykopis' face as she began to smile. "He called me Ly-Ly. Why Mister Gaunt, you are just full of surprises."
Lykopis left the temple and returned to her packing before rejoining her new allies. . .
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