Chapter Text
Jinx considered herself an intelligent girl.
She stood quietly, tracking her breath, to better observe the other cloak donned bodies within the dimly lit room.
"This day is divine for you, isn't it?" asked Brother Blood, clad in his finest armor; he looked at her with greasy pride and tired, but acceptant eyes.
"-This shall be your one chance to impress Him," warned the deputy headmistress; Jinx offered Mother Mayhem a warm, confident smile.
She'd been preparing for this function for a long time.
After all, with her magical gifts, there'd only ever been one path for her, in the Hive.
There'd been no secret that the school was at least in part, a front for Brother Blood's cult; his influence was global, and his followers spanned across nation lines. Most only ever got that far in their understanding. -Stadiums of rabid fans drooling over her Headmaster's egotistical drivel, heralding him for the Messiah he believed himself to be.
Jinx was smarter.
She'd known for years that Blood's power came from someone higher than he; over the beginning years of her schooling she'd pieced it together, bit by bit, from what she'd gleaned from the headmaster's lectures and the spaces between the lines of her textbooks, and the forbidden galley of knowledge within the old quarter library.
The headmistress, for back then it was the Mother herself who oversaw the school, had watched her unravel the mysteries hidden in plain sight with abject fondness and pride.
Jinx was the only student in the entire academy, to really know who and what 'the Redcloaks' wandering around their school were really for.
And now, she reflected confidently, she would be one of them. -Her years of toil and strain, validated before the entire school board to witness.
Her friends hadn't ever been able to comprehend her choices; she doubted they'd even hear of her final success, now that they had graduated and were to part ways. Her teachers by comparison, had always tempered their expectations of her inevitable success with their measured assurances that she was to fail somewhere along the way.
None of that would matter now, she thought vindictively; though part of her was loathed to the idea that she'd be stuck mingling with the schoolboard forever now.
"I will go and inform the Master of your audience," Blood announced dryly, placing a gauntleted hand upon her shoulder; "Mayhem, see to it she looks the part."
"Of course," the woman obeyed, bowing as the headmaster took his leave.
Jinx, along with the other red cloaks, kept their posture firm and unyielding.
Quietly, the woman who Jinx had come to know as a mentor for so long stretched out a hand and placed it approvingly against her cheek.
Mayhem did not speak, but Jinx felt the sentiment well enough to smile genuinely for her.
The moment was all the time wasted the deputy headmistress allowed, before the others in the assembly stepped forward to complete their tasks.
She was stripped; the motions a bit rough but methodical. She'd expected as much, going in.
She kept still as best she was able and allowed the flurry of hands to scrub and oil her; her only reflex was to shy when the hands neared her hair.
Horned as her strands favored to curl, she held pride in their unconventional appearance and felt a little disheartened by the congregation's silent decree to undo them for the Master. A quick smack from Mayhem's hand, however, was all the reminder Jinx needed to halt her fidgeting; to keep her mind busy, she instead tried to focus on her other senses.
The aromas of the oils they lathered her with were quite pleasing, she felt. They also seemed heady and the scents seemed to fuzz over her nose and throat.
The whole affair was a pale simile of the Ritual of Sacrifice, she knew; but as they worked through her hair and messaged other substances into her scalp, Jinx couldn't help but consider it all comparably romantic in devotional sort of cosmic sway.
Apparently satisfied with the drybath, the assembled stepped back and parted as a lone figure stepped forth.
Immediately the room felt far quieter.
The Lady of the White Cloak was an understated figure, but one appointed with great respect.
The women held a robe in her arms for Jinx to take, red as the blood for which Sebastion was named.
Jinx donned the vermillion garment with reverent reticence.
"It's time," Mayhem announced, straightening her impeccable posture.
With a flurry of rippling cloaks, Jinx was processioned through the labyrinth; as they descended the structure grew archaic and carved, all touches of modern architecture either long forgotten or else predated by centuries prior.
Jinx longed to reach out and trail her fingers along the intricately chiseled stone walls, if only to cement herself to the moment.
The Lady in White led her to a final door.
Firelight and a deep rumbling, echoed from within.
"You may turn back here, if you wish," the white-robed woman warned; "But past this, no further."
Jinx nodded as much as her hood allowed.
"When you enter inside, be silent. He will let you know if he desires you to speak," Mayhem added, standing to Jinx's other side, "Be warned, he'll know if you lie."
Feeling braced as she would ever be, Jinx nodded for them to open the doors.
She walked in, the flock of initiated fluttering in behind her.
Her attention almost didn't register the people filing in around her for the sheer majesty of the room's central focus.
The Woman in White passed her by, and moved to stand beside the Dark King.
Scath himself, sat before them clad in precious metals and white cloths.
For a moment Jinx almost didn't breathe.
"Witch," he addressed, his voice towering around her, nearly forcing her to the floor.
Feeling the urge to answer him, she kept herself silent by focusing on her weakening knees.
"Jinx is our top student, my Lord," her headmaster exclaimed as though she were a shiny new car; "Her talents could be of use to you, I'm sure."
The god huffed, his horns glinting in the torchlight.
Jinx eyed the beast's massive tapering claws.
"She has been well taught," Mayhem added, when Scath looked to her.
The god's eyes turned to face her, the four of them boring straight through her mind and body.
She ignored the urge to shed the cloak from her shoulders.
"You refuse me, little Witch?" the dark lord asked, his boredom for the first time shifting into something like interest.
Knowing the moment to speak was now, Jinx confidently recited the words she'd longed most to give; "Your power far surpasses any need of mine, but I've come to you with a way to attend you and your legacy. Let me serve your daughter Lord Scath, should she see me worthy."
Mayhem stifled a gasp of surprise; Jinx almost regretted on not having told the woman her plan, her headmaster's barely contained squirming however was vindicating to watch from her peripheral.
Her eyes were still cleanly affixed to Scath, who raised his shoulders ever so slightly.
Jinx hoped hers was the first inquiry ever bequeathed to the fabled child she hoped he harbored; this request was her greatest chance of prestige. The child of a god afterall, was still a god; and as a first disciple, Jinx knew she stood a far greater chance of reaping the benefits of service for longer than many that might come after.
The growl in Scath's chest was unnerving as it settled into a cruel chuckle.
When it settled, he barked; "Wife. Fetch the Child."
The Woman in White retreated into the shadows behind the throne.
Jinx studied the fangs lining Scath's smiling jaws.
The King's claws dug into his throne's handholds, clearly indulging in emotion.
"I did not know you had a child, my lord," Sebastion fretted, filling the silence; "Congratulations sire. When did they arrive?"
As if in answer, the room's dim light seemed to deepen, and sharpen in contrast for a flicker of a heartbeat before brightening the expansive chamber entirely.
While it hadn't been by a great extent, the shift in better illumination caused Jinx's irises to contract; she squinted briefly, as she studied the figures emerging from noneclidiean space.
The Woman in White remained perfectly poised with a smaller, similarly cloaked figure at her side.
"Your Father has a gift for you," the Woman murmured flatly.
The smaller figure drew forward oddly, as if their feet weren't meeting the ground beneath their cloak.
The fabric was fastened, just as all the other cloaks about the room were fastened; the person's identity and features were all obscured, as she knew her own also were.
The figure stopped short, some feet between her and their father.
"It time you had souls of your own pledged to you," Scath stated, perhaps to spur the child on.
The child seemed to consider his words, because they drew forward again.
This time, the figure didn't stop until they were in front of her face.
Jinx didn't know what to do at this point, she realized.
Following the tension of her physical exhaustion, Jinx allowed her eyes to close, and sank to her knees.
"It would honor me, to serve you Dark One," she murmured.
The figure regarded her, for a moment.
Six red eyes observed her soul.
"You offer willingly?"
"I've been studying this sect for most of my life," Jinx answered cleanly; "I come as quietly as the dead."
"I cannot guarantee your safety," the figure warned.
"I've no need of that, young Lord," she countered plainly; "My powers run obtuse to it anyway."
"Powers?" the figure asked, "What skills have you?"
"I can direct bad luck onto others, though the effects are admittedly messy. My other areas of expertise are trained skills for combat and tactical planning. I am a theif who led a band of the best mercenaries in the City."
The figure did not seem pleased by her answer.
Jinx struggled to cobble together a more inviting persuasion.
"I am loyal, Dark One. More than that I am young, as you are. I understand the city and its populace in fashions the rest of the sect might neglect. -I can teach you how to navigate it as you wish. I am versatile. I can fight battles you do not wish to; I can recruit others in your name. You need only ask me a task, and I shall ensure it done."
Her words had taken a stronger, resilient assurance; it felt as though her heart was pitching between her teeth.
"What do you want of me," asked the figure, their cape still fluttering despite the lack of wind.
"I want only for your satisfaction, Dark One," Jinx answered firmly; "If you allow me to be your High Priestess, I shall have achieved the goal I've worked towards since my very first Hive lessons."
The figure took another moment to think, one Jinx wasted by observing the way her heart pounded within her chest.
"Will you obey anything I ask? Even if you don't wish to?" the figure asked; "I could order you to kill your friends. Your family. Yourself. You would be as my puppet, a toy to do with as I pleased."
"Nothing would make me happier, young Lord," Jinx answered expectantly; "It is not so different from the ultimatums of the Hive. I take pride in my abilities, a knife is wasted when not in use."
Slowly, the figure descended; Jinx heard the soft impact of the young god landing on the floor.
They drew back their hood, only slightly, but it was enough for Jinx to now make out a portion of the figure's face.
A soft jawline and pale lips, were the only features she was able to discern, along with a single set of white obscured eyes.
Compelled, Jinx followed the impulse to draw away her own hood; her hair cascaded around her shoulders in tangles of pink and shadowed maroon.
"You'll do," groused a strange voice, from under the figure's small white cloak.
"Thank you, my Lord," Jinx gasped, as she fell to her hands.
"You may call me Raven, for now," the figure murmured; "Lest we grow conflated with my parents."
"As you wish," Jinx readily agreed, daring to look up at the young god's face with a mix of excitement and trepidated glee.
"Get up then, if you wish to be useful," Raven muttered.
Jinx scrambled to her feet, eager to relieve the pressure of the stone floor from her knees.
Almost absently, the young god drifted over to Scath, who offered a palm for her to land on.
"Thank you Father," her new Lord stated; "I'll find something to do with her."
Raven pressed a chaste kiss to Scath's cheek.
When her Lord turned back to her, Jinx's relief hitched up her body as Raven drifted back to the floor.
"You will accompany me. There is much to discuss," the young god ordered, already turning away.