The chapel was rotting, but quiet. Fungi bloomed like bruises along the stone walls, their pale glow casting ghostly light throughout the room. At the end of the room, the gods-forsaken altar of Yix was haunted by its abbot, jittering and laughing to himself about a joke no one else could hear. Out of the dark entrance emerged a raven-like figure. Jekyll's laughter faded as he noticed.
"A visitor! And a strange, new one, at that..."
"Greetings, Oracle."
"gReEtiNgs, oRacLe." Jekyll mocked.
"My, you're a spooky one, aren't you? Should I be intimidated?"
The figure rested his head on his fingertips and shook it.
"Nay, I have not come for malevolent reason tonight."
"Oh? And who exactly are you anyway? Surely a fool to come here!"
"Said the jester to the king."
Jekyll erupted with laughter and slammed his fist on the altar. Hush smirked, and continued once Jekyll finally quit laughing.
"I am Hush, deacon of the Church of Whispers. And I already know who you are, Carneca."
"Oh, do you?" Jekyll grinned.
"You were a colleague of my master, among many other things."
"Flattery will get you everywhere with me, Hush. But you're going to have to be more specific than that."
"Very well, then. You're an occultist of great repute. That earned you the respect of our shared colleague, master Whispers."
"Now that's a name I have not heard in quite some time!" Jekyll jitters and looks away, muttering to himself.
"He was... an interesting man. The most interesting I've ever met..."
"Indeed?" Hush regards Jekyll curiously, he slowly approaches closer to the altar and Jekyll's face snaps back to him.
"Ah, I know why you're here now!" he cackles.
"You want this, don't you?"
Jekyll takes off his top hat and reaches within, drawing a long double-sided sword. Its gray metal seemed to swallow light, casting a chill of unspoken dread across the chapel. Hush stood straighter, a flicker of reverence breaking through his composure.
"Ereshkigal..." he whispered.
Jekyll chuckled and turned his gaze to the blade, lazily gripping it and turning it about to inspect it.
"Magister Ada did not give this up easily... I've held it for years, hoping Whispers would return for it. What a bummer that you're here in his place."
"Whispers would have wanted me to have it."
"He didn't tell me that. Oh, well, here you go!"
Jekyll extends Ereshkigal out in offering. Hush hurried towards it with no concealment of eagerness.
"HAH! YOU'RE AN IDIOT!"
Jekyll pushes his hand outward and a flash of orange sparks sends Hush gliding across the disgusting floor of the Abbey.
"You really thought I'd give you his sword just because he was your master?" Jekyll laughs maniacally.
Hush grunts and stands slowly, shaking his head and reorienting himself.
"I had come to make an exchange, but we can play this game of push and pull."
Hush reaches out and grips his hand. Ereshkigal wrenches itself from Jekyll's grip and hastily flys towards the outstretched hand.
"Oh, shit!"
Jekyll claps and instantly the two figures are transported through space, swapping places.
"Careful, Hush- Start the song and I might not stop dancing!" Jekyll caught the blade, gave it a twirl, and stabbed it into the stone, leaning upon it casually.
"No, no. This will be fun. That's what you want, isn't it? A little entertainment." he smirks and grips the shadows, drawing a sleek sword of solid darkness.
Jekyll grins and taps his foot. A choir of spectres appear above, harmonizing dramatically. A piano begins to jingle, then the beat drops. Jekyll yanked Ereshkigal from the stone with a flourish and points it towards Hush like a conductor ready to begin.
"En garde!"
Hush climbs atop the altar and leaps towards Jekyll, dark blade pointed right for his face. Jekyll holds up Ereshkigal and draws a shield in the air. Hush's blade strikes against it, shattering the ward and causing him to slide backward, yet he keeps his footing. From the side of the room a stained glass window shatters as corpses start to flood through from the graveyard and shamble towards Hush.
Hush spun his blade of darkness in a slow spiral and stepped to the side. “Your theatrics are charming, Carneca. But do you bleed?”
Jekyll's eyes bulged so wide it looked like they were going to pop out. “Only when I want to!”
"We'll see about that."
Jekyll raised his hand and snapped his fingers- reality hiccuped.
For a split second, Hush was standing in three places at once—the altar, the nave, the ceiling. He blinked, and they collapsed back into one. A false Hush shattered like glass. The real one stumbled and hissed. A corpse lunged towards him and Hush swung without hesitation hacking its head off.
"Chaos magic..." Hush sank into the shadows.
"Hiding already?" Jekyll looked about the room and spun around just in time to see Hush mid-swing of his blade. Jekyll flinched and threw his hand out with more orange sparks to push him away. Hush blinked above them, spinning and cutting through the air. Strings fell around the chapel as the corpses fell over one by one.
"You are not the only one who warps the script, Carneca."
"Oh, would you Hush? HA HA! Get it? 'Cuz you're... yeah, you get-"
In the blink of an eye the whole chapel was gone and the two were in a completely different realm... Darkness as far as the eye could see. The Void. Everything was silent now.
"Hey, the song was just getting good!"
Hush moved unnaturally quick from several feet away and thrusted his sword at Jekyll. Immediately the pair were lifted into the abyss above. Were they falling or flying? Orientation was indiscernible. Hush went for another strike, and Jekyll parried it with Ereshkigal, and swung, counter-striking. Hush kicked off of Jekyll's chest, getting his leg slashed but sending Jekyll rolling in circles through the air. He pointed the shadowy blade towards Jekyll and a bolt of dark-purple lightning struck him. Jekyll writhed and twitched about as he was electrocuted, dropping Ereshkigal. Hush immediately held his arms and legs close, diving towards the prize. It was so close now... he reached for the sword and wrapped his fingers around the handle.
"Finally!"
A trumpet broke the silence of the Void and Hush crashed face-first into the dirt, dropping Ereshkigal. All around them was a psychedelic scene of mushrooms and colors. Hush pushed himself up from the dirt, spitting blood streaked with fungal spores. Standing before him was Jekyll, Ereshkigal in hand.
"Now that was close!" Jekyll laughed and jittered.
Hush panted, watching Jekyll while he recovered from the fall.
"That's the thing about rabbit holes, silly boy. They don't last forever, and it hurts when you hit the ground!"
Jekyll dropped his jaw and a flurry of erratic orbs danced towards Hush. Hush drew a spiral in the air with his finger. The spiral became a hole, sucking color. The orbs were drawn in, and everything faded to sepia, then drained into black and white. Hush starts to chuckle. Ereshkigal burns bright gold against the colorless scene.
"You see, Carneca. Ereshkigal has been seeking its true master. All it took was a touch for it to recognize him. And now... It's mine."
Golden sigils begin to glow across Hush's face and exposed skin, Jekyll grips Ereshkigal tightly and yelps, dropping it.
"It burns!"
Ereshkigal floats towards Hush. Jekyll watches and his face drops, then turns flat as he accepts what is happening. Hush grasps the blade and swings it in the air faster than the eye can see, drawing a sigil within.
"Sigilum Majora: Temporal Destruction!"
Everything slows, then rewinds quickly. The two stand back in the rotting chapel, right where they were when Hush first stepped in, but this time Hush holds Ereshkigal.
It is quiet, but then... Jekyll claps and bows.
"Now that... Was a GOOD SHOW!"
"Indeed."
"I suppose I have no choice now. Whispers has chosen you to have the blade... and all along I thought I was defending it for him. What a funny plot-twist!"
"When I finish writing the story, few will be laughing. But I imagine you still will, Carneca."
"That'll never change!"
Hush smiles then turns to the door and exits the scene.
