Black-leather ladies dragging ghosts back to hell via the power of their long magic chains.
Sounds totally rad… except for the lurking secret.
Let’s write a continuation of the Chain ladies story together!
During the last stream, a subscriber requested that we continue the story about the Chain Ladies that we worked on before.
This was the image that inspired the story.
(Link to DeviantArt)
If you missed the first part, you can check that out here.
Here’s what we came up with:
The council of high lavaliers was even more intimidating than Sariel had expected. Once they’d arrived back at Catena base, Aria silently led them to the acumen building. Unlike the rest of the encampment, which was made up of small metal buildings linked together, the acumen was built of towering black stone, leading up to a sharp point of two glowing-red eyes, constantly keeping watch for wraiths.
Lavaliers were expected to report back there after every expedition, so it was the one place Sariel had never yet been.
Clutching the bloody red cloak of the traitor in her arm, Sariel was at least happy to report her first mission as a success.
After climbing the obsidian stairs, Sariel and her Chain clacked their way over the stone floor into the acumen. Despite the dark stone walls, it was bright inside, rays of light spilling through the colorful stained windows depicting glorious victories the lavaliers had gained against the wraiths over the decades. Sariel could practically hear their songs, heroes and martyrs alike, singing of triumph through the sunlight.
“Identify,” came the voice of one of the high lavaliers.
There were four of them, wearing their official black leather uniforms, sitting at a long table of woven chains — the former weapons of fallen and retired lavaliers, put to eternal use.
Sariel hadn’t seen the high lavaliers since her first day at camp two years ago, when they solemnly welcomed the new recruits. Of the twenty or so who had been in Sariel’s class, only she still remained. Lavalier training wasn’t for the weak, and she was proud to be standing here today.
She knew the names of the four by heart. High Lavalier Rahatia, Elyon, and Lione. But most of all, High Lavalier Samalik. Their white chains draped over their shoulders, stained with the wraith-blood of their countless victories, had been an inspiration to Sariel from day one. Maybe that’s why she’d stuck around while others had fallen.
“Chain Aria,” Aria spoke for them, identifying their group. High Lavalier Samalik scribbled down a note in an open book, while the other three remained motionless, watching.
“Report,” High Lavalier Rahatia ordered.
Even though Sariel had never officially been in the acumen before, Aria had briefed her on what to expect. They would state whether or not the mission had been a success, and answer any questions the high lavaliers had from there. With a little luck, it would be over quickly. With a little more luck, perhaps Sariel would get a nod of approval from the council.
Aria straightened herself as she spoke. “Failure.”
Sariel, along with Vine and Lexi, snapped to Aria in shock, but none of the council members so much as blinked.
“Explain,” High Lavalier Elyon ordered, raising her chin ever so slightly from its cradle of intertwined fingers.
“We successfully banished four wraiths,” Aria said. “However, in the process, there was a human casualty. A renegade stood in our way, and was accidentally banished.”
Sariel wanted to blurt out so much, but she kept her mouth shut. Of course it was forbidden to use chains on humans, but she didn’t think it would result in a failure. Especially not for someone who was actively fighting against them.
“Who?” High Lavalier Lione asked, eyeing the four of them.
Aria didn’t so much as glance over at Sariel. She knew what that meant. Their chain leader had already pinched the truth by saying it was an accident, and now she planned on twisting it by saying she had killed the former lavalier, Blanchette.
But a Chain was only as strong as its weakest link. And Sariel refused to be weak.
“It was me,” Sariel spoke aloud.
Again, no reaction from the council. Only High Lavalier Samalik looked up at her from the book, putting down her pen, pausing briefly in the recording of the meeting.
“The chains do not distinguish between human and wraith souls,” she said passively. “They do their job either way, dragging the victim to hell. No matter what crimes that person had committed, such a sentence was not yours to decide. It is God’s alone to pass.”
Deep down, Sariel had known that, but she’d gotten caught up in the moment. The bloody cloak she held in her hands now felt far, far heavier.
“It was my mistake,” she said to the council. “I did it without being ordered. Aria even let the renegade bind her, rather than banish her. I should’ve followed her lead.”
The council remained impassive, until High Lavalier Rahatia spoke again.
“Confiscate,” she said.
Before Sariel could even process what that meant, Aria walked up to her and grabbed her chains. Then ripped them from her body.
“Sariel,” High Lavalier Samalik said. Hearing her name spoken aloud by her revered superior should’ve been an honor, the culmination of her years of work. Now, it was a smith’s hammer right to her chest. “A Chain is only as strong as its weakest link. You will be discarded, and a new link forged in your place. Farewell.”
The other three repeated the last word after her in an echoing chorus. For Sariel, it didn’t feel real. She was standing in a nightmare, and everyone was expecting her to leave. Her Links, the High Lavaliers, all of them stared at her, void of emotion.
So she did the same, walking out of the acumen in dignified silence, not daring to let a single one of her tears drop to the sacred black floor.
Illustration by cozyrogers
There was little packing for Sariel to do. For the past two years, her chains and uniform had been her only possessions. The only things that gave her life any meaning. Her chains had already been taken away, and she had to surrender her black outfit on her way past the guarded Catena base exit.
Handing it over to the fully-uniformed guard, while Sariel stood in her civilian clothes, she’d never felt more naked.
Inside her backpack was some rations to sustain her two-day journey walking to the closest city: Mowrs. There, she’d take the chaintracks back home. How she was going to explain her discharge to her parents, she had no idea. Thankfully she had a long walk ahead of her to think about it.
Also in her backpack was Blanchette’s red cloak, and something that had been hidden underneath it. Something that clinked gently with each step. Blanchette’s chains.
Sariel should’ve turned them over to the council, but she couldn’t bring herself to. She wanted them, not to use, but as a reminder of what she’d done. The council was right. No matter what that traitor had done, she didn’t deserve the fate that Sariel had given her.
It only took an hour or so of walking before all signs of human development were gone, and Sariel was engulfed by the neverending woods. Usually all transportation to the base was driven up along the paved road via horse coach, but Sariel didn’t want to risk being seen by anyone. She could only imagine if she were a new recruit, excited to be heading to Cadena base for the first time, and catching a glimpse of an exile walking along the side of the road. Nothing would snatch the sunny winds from her sails quite like that, and Sariel wasn’t going to subject anyone to it.
Instead, she followed parallel to the road, trudging through the forest, snapping twigs and nearly tripping over roots. Just like she deserved.
When the sun reached its highest point in the sky, glittering through the treetops, Sariel decided to take a short break. She let out a sweaty breath, slipped the backpack off from behind her, and dropped it to the ground, ready to crack open some rations.
Except there was a small, baby wraith sitting on top of her pack.
The size of a ferret, the see-through white demon was slowly spinning around the top of her backpack. The damn thing must’ve jumped on her back from a tree or something, and she was so lost in her own head that she didn’t even notice.
Sariel had never seen a wraith so small before, but that didn’t make it any less dangerous. If anything, it was far more deadly. Faster and easier to make contact with humans, its foul corruption boiling flesh off into popping blisters.
Sariel’s training immediately took over. She jumped back, keeping her distance, and her body hardened. Her hands instinctively reached for her chains, but grabbed nothing except her shirt. She spun around, looking for anything to use as a weapon.
And spun right into the biggest wraith she’d ever seen in her life.
The giant white monster towered to the tops of the trees, as wide as a house. Its long arms dangled from the sides of its barrel-like body, as if a behemoth sloth standing on tree-trunk-sized legs. This one made the giant wraith from yesterday seem like a child. It made Sariel feel like a child.
The wraith stared down at her, and Sariel made a move to run, but she couldn’t outspeed the demon’s girth. Its translucent white form fell on top of her from all sides. Sariel clenched her teeth and eyes, and prepared to have her skin vaporized and face God’s justice.
As soon as the demon fell upon her, Sariel’s mind fizzled and burst.
She saw things. A forest. Wraiths, dozens of them, running away. Not from lavaliers, but something else.
One of them came crashing through the trees. A true demon. A flaming beast of coal and magma, stomping on two legs, lighting the ground on fire with every step. It reached out to grab a wraith with either hand, the two creatures squealing as they desperately tried to escape. Silenced when the demon bit through their throats, drawing them into its abyss of a mouth, lined with jagged glass.
Then a flash. Lavaliers! So many of them. Descending upon the flaming demons, using chains to defeat them. Pulling them. Breaking them. Reducing them to rubble. The white-glowing wraiths rubbed their heads against the lavaliers in appreciation. And the lavaliers rubbed them back.
But not all of them. Another flash. The fire demons were gone. With their predators extinct, there were more wraiths than ever before. But there were also more lavaliers than ever before. Hungry links and thirsty chains. They found a new prey to feed on.
They’re not wraiths, came Blanchette’s voice from the red cloak, wrapped around Sariel’s shoulders. Or demons. They don’t come from hell at all. They live here, in the forest. Same as the deer and birds.
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Hope to see you next time, friend!
Top images: Pakutaso