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libraviathanff14 · 4 months ago

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The First Relic pt. 1

Vynnie drove his bike out to the meet up spot; a large manor in the Shroud, nestled deep in the wood. Finn had made it to the gate first and waited for the hired miqo'te to join him.

"Vynnie, glad you could make it. We'll meet with the client first, as she's agreed to have some tea and then discuss the details of her particular haunting. We'll do some looking around and go from there." He said casually. He passed through the gate, fully confident and calm. It made Vynnie question the sanity of this man. He didn't deal with Voidsent often, but enough to know that most people weren't this chipper.

"Say, Finn. How long have you been doing this?" Vynnie questioned.

"Oh, probably a little under a decade or so. Hard to keep track, honestly." The viera adjust his attire, following the trail to the front door of a huge manor. The grounds were impeccably landscaped; with trees and flowers that Vynnie had not seen. A single gardener attended to the hedges nearby, whistling to himself. The doors opened before Finn could even knock, and a well dressed Elezen bowed at the hip to them both. Suddenly, Vynnie felt incredibly underdressed.

"Welcome, sirs. Madame DuPont will receive you in the library, if you'll follow me."

The staff all seemed to be in a good mood, yet we're almost robotic. Their tasks were taken care of with precision. Each step they took seemed preplanned and rehearsed, like it was all a dance. It started to creep Vynnie out, who had to brush down the fur of his tail to not show signs of his unease.

The two followed the well dressed man who opened the library door for them. Inside a tall room, lined with bookshelves was a fireplace with a couch and a couple chairs, and a polished wooden coffee table on which was a tray of tea and little cookies. In one of the chairs, sat properly in a floor length, bustled dress was the assumed Madame DuPont.

"Finnigan Seahart and his assistant, Madame." The Elezen announced before closing the library door. The elegant woman stood, taller than even Finn as she beckoned them over. She had a warm smile, that had an inviting warmth to it.

"Ah, my dears. Come sit. I have hot tea and sugar cookies for you both. Freshly baked."

Finn nodded along for Vynnie to join and both took a seat on the couch opposite the woman. Vynnie stared at the spread, unsure of how polite he had to be about it. Finn didn't even reach for anything.

"Help yourselves, please."

Finn smiled, "Madame DuPont. Could you tell us a bit about what exactly is going on that you need our services?"

The woman sighed and walked to the fireplace to add another log as she spoke, "Straight to the point, hm? Whatever happened to entertaining guests a little? Oh, nevermind. Mr. Seahart, your reputation precedes you so I expected as much. It started a couple summers ago, I'd say. My daughter, Amelie had fallen for a Wood Wailer. He was a sweet man, but my husband did not approve and pulled some strings to get the Wailer a job far from our daughter. They fought about it for weeks, it was terrible. It got better for a little while, though." She sighed, "I figured it was because I saw her sneaking out at night. I didn't tell my husband. I figured she'd either been meeting in secret with the Wailer or found some new person to fall for. My gardener had seen her meet with some man in a hood in our greenhouse one night when he was here late. But... then things got strange."

She slowly returned to her seat and that warm expression was far more somber and exhausted. It was like telling this story was aging her.

"My husband got strangely ill. Our medics couldn't figure it out. And while we were dealing with the stress of that, my staff reported that they'd find things broken around the house, or things falling from their shelves. Dead birds on our roofs and in our gardens. More staff became sick. I began to fear that Amelie was doing something. I figured she was tampering with the food, so I had staff keep her out of the kitchens and keep an eye on her, but they said she hardly left her room, the greenhouse, or the cellar. The last part perturbed me, so one afternoon, I followed Amelie down to the cellar. There, I saw a horrible sight. Amelie had turned our cellar into some... horrid ritual site. She didn't look like herself. Disheveled, unkempt. Dark circles under her eyes. There was a circle with some goblet in the center. I... I fled. I don't know if she saw me that day. But it was that night that my husband's illness got the best of him. And suddenly... everything was quiet."

The woman clutched a cup of tea in her hands, shaking as she looked inside. Finn's face was stern. He was just as unsettling as the story.

"I'm sorry, but what the fu—" Vynnie started, before Finn clasped a hand over his mouth.

"My condolences, Madame DuPont. May we see the cellar, or Amelie if she is around?"

"Oh, no, no. No one sees Amelie. She locks herself in her room. I've had the servants clean the cellar and lock it, but here's the key. If you find anything, do be careful? I fear for what my daughter has done." She pulled a silver key from her pocket and set it on the coffee table to slide to Finn.

"Will do, Madame. We won't take long, but might we take a look around as well? I'll need to thoroughly investigate everything."

"Certainly, Mr. Seahart. Just stay away from the West Hall. Amelie's room is off limits to guests."

"Please, just Finn is fine. We will avoid the area."

They nod as Finn stands and begins to walk to the door. Finn opens it for Vynnie and shuts it behind them as he pulls out a journal.

The hall was absent of servants, but Vynnie spoke in a hushed tone, "Finn, what the fuck? How are you so calm right now? This is weird as shit."

"Some Voidsent prey on fear, Vynnie. If I show emotion, I am an easier target for their tricks."

Vynnie gulped as Finn continued, "I don't think the daughter would've come into dark magic on her own so quickly. Let's investigate the cellar. Come."

Vynnie's tail swung low and he followed close by, trying to keep a cool demeanor to him. "All the servants are gone. Maybe staying out of our way to let us work?"

"Possibly, but something is definitely off. Stay on your guard."

The walk to the cellar was uneasy and silent. The cellar door was locked with a giant pad. Finn scoffed at it then pulled out the key. "Huh..."

"What's up?"

"The key is all rusty. I could've sworn it was polished silver when she handed it to me."

"Maybe you were mixing it up with the trays and silverware?"

"Maybe..." The key fit, though it did give some resistance before finally unlocking the padlock. However, the key snapped as Finn began to pull it out and all the chains fell to the floor.

"Uhhhh, Finn. It broke."

"Astute observation, Vynnie. Come on." He pushed the door open and the smell of a musty cellar wafted out of the door. "Vynnie, take a moment to light the sconces with your levin while I look around."

The miqo'te held his clawed finger to the wall sconces and sent a small spark to ignite the oiled wicks on top. Meanwhile, Finn walked around. The cellar was a single room, so there wasn't much to look through, and despite the cleaners' best efforts, the signs of a ritual circle were still somewhat present.

"There's still an ambient aether here. It wasn't properly cleaned." He rummaged in his bag for a vial of coarse salt and another of what Vynnie assumed to be water. "I don't recognize much of what I can see, but blood was definitely involved. Some is still dried along the circle."

"This girl was doing blood magic?! All because she couldn't date some guy?"

"Remember, there was tension between her and her father, too. But I don't think she came to this on her own. Remember she met with someone at night."

"Yeah, but didn't Madame DuPont say it was likely the Wailer or a new lover?"

"Likely, but not confirmed. It could've been a Voidsent that sensed her grief and used it as a tool to manipulate her. We'll have to find the girl to know more."

"But I thought she was off limits."

"Yes, well, things change, and my job is to cleanse the home. Just this circle won't be enough." He poured the salt and water where he could find marks and rubbed it out with his boot.

"We're going to the girl's room, come on."

Finn put away the vials and stepped out of the cellar. At the top of the stairs he stopped, causing Vynnie to nearly bump into him, "Hey, what gives? Why'd you—"

His question was answered when he took a look. The pristine home was a wreck now. Wallpaper peeled, what little furniture was left was either covered in cloth or busted. The windows were so grimey that the light that did pour in was tinted yellow, adding a sickly color to the place.

"Finn, what's going on?"

"I'll tell you as soon as I learn. But our task remains the same. Don't touch anything."

The viera picked up his page, coming to the end of the main hall and looking down the west one. Vynnie followed by, looking behind constantly. "I've got a bad feeling, Finn. I don't know that we'll like what we find in that girl's room."

Finn stopped at the door at the end of the West Hall. An eerie, dim light filtered from underneath the door, confirming enough for Finn to jiggle the handle. "It's locked."

"Here, let me." Finn moved aside as Vynnie knelt down before the door and stuck his claw in the keyhole. A spark of levin flowed from him until a click was heard.

"Magnetism. Clever. Now ready your spells."

Vynnie was way ahead of the viera. The door being opened got him to the height of his anxiety. The room was large and circular. All the furniture destroyed and used as part of some altar in the center. Atop was a goblet, polished and shining as an antithesis to the rest of the manor. At the foot of those makeshift altar was a skeletal like figure with pointed ears and frayed ashy hair. She was whispering some words desperately to the Goblet. But all the two could make out was, "Please, please, please..."

"Amelie...?"

#my writing #the three relics #finn #vynnie

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