Book 2 Chapter 121
John
“How’s Zahrraam?” Asked Eskaal. We were in his living room, watching TV on the flat screen I snuck in.
“He’s 250 days now. He was a curious tiny child, innocent to the world around him… Now he’s a teenager and questions Everything. How the world works, magic, no shifting yet though” I said happily.
He liked me, but since he was only a rat… I couldn’t understand a damn thing he squeaked. Apparently, Squirrel-Speech was a thing rodent type supernaturals often naturally spoke… it was basically wolf speech, but since they can’t growl, they squeak instead.
It also didn’t help that those squeaks translated to demonic, so I Still wouldn’t know what he was saying.
“I didn’t make his feet too big did I?” He asked.
“No. He hops around just fine.” I smiled.
“Good, good. He won’t shift until at least 20. Your mate should be honored. Not only does she hold a son of Zeh’Kahrraam, but she’s also wielding a demon that will have some Earthen qualities. She should also be happy she was chosen by the old master to birth one of his favorites….”
“I don’t know man… Heidi’s been a little off since Alteer’s visit…” I said to Eskaal.
“I don’t see why she wouldn’t. She’s not getting normal children; she’s getting Two incarnations from two powerful people. I knew Theophania. She was only in her 5 or 600’s when the master accepted the promise. I heard he made her soul into a sorrow tree now.” He said sipping tea.
“A What?” I asked also sipping tea. I still didn’t feel comfortable bringing Heidi down here, but he texted me to come watch wrestling with him. It was a cool privately streamed supernatural fight tournament.
We sat on his couch, an arm’s length away with popcorn that I brought in between us.
“In Hell, there’s a place called The Forest of Sorrows. People who crossed the master in any way go there. They’re eaten alive by bugs and their puss is sap…. Wasp demons love it, as do centipede people down there. It tastes almost like honey, except mortals become catatonic, depressed free food.” He said wincing at someone being Slammed on the concrete.
There was a huge arena, thousands on thousands came to see it… It was a little distracting, since I’d never seen this before. I didn’t know there were underground tournaments….
“Wait… isn’t that Frag’Naw?” I asked. The drake beat the Shit out of his opponent, another dragon. The difference was that his challenger was fully shifted, and he punched his lights out in mortal form.
He nodded. “He bought it from the Demon Lord of Aggression.” He said sipping tea. “If I told you his name, you’d never remember it.”
“You’re kidding.” I said in confusion…
“I’m not. I get to Watch the fruit of my labor, not just see it with magic through the eyes of others, or listen for gossip scraps.” He raised his glass.
“Wow… and I guess after all this time, he’s trying to make a name for himself.” I said seeing him smile. I raised my glass too.
“He’s going to be Champion this year, but I imagine after He enters the ring next year with his ancient one title, not many will enter, but twice the seats will fill up.” He chuckled. “Oh and how’s Alteer? He still a jackass’s left nut?”
I snorted a laugh. “Yes. He made Heidi panic, now she’s worried she won’t be a good mother, but insisted that I come here and hang with you.”
“She will do fine. I know she’s a good soul for the old Master to go out his way to give her a new demon.” He said casually.
“Why do you call the Horned One the ‘old master’?” I had to ask, because he’d said it a few times.
“This language doesn’t distinguish between older people and their titles.” He said sipping the last of his tea, and I went to his fridge to see if the beers were cold yet. They were since I put them in the freezer. “Both masters present themselves as casual, though both are Not to be trifled with. No matter how old I get, I still remember the first time I saw my lord…”
“… would you mind me asking how’s the Horned Lion?” I asked, and his eyes lit up. Commercials played during intermission, and he popped the lid off his beer since I sat the case between us on the floor.
“Power.” He said extending his claws, and in it came a little spinning replica of the world… though I didn’t recognize some of the landmasses. “The Master… through no fault of his own… you Feel he is More… His passive radiant aura is nearly visible to the naked eye. I remember it like it was yesterday… I’m only about 19 years younger than my father… I remember seeing him come home bloody and tired… if at all. I would go Years without seeing him. Then when I was about 15, we started slaying demons. They Ravaged the countryside…. If you look, you’ll still find quite a few half-demons…”
“Lady…” I mumbled.
“Half-everything was common back then. Demons who fell in love with humans were thrown in the Pit though… but Shit I know of at Least one demigod still living, descended from Arviel himself. You’ve actually met him. No it isn’t Rodric, that’s his mortal great grandson. Two of the young master’s generals, no three are from some god or another. Two don’t know who their father is, and one’s from the Lord of Water.”
I’d heard of that one, but he was cursed to bring drought, becoming the Dry One. Any who sided with the Horned Lion was cursed, banished, or made a fugitive of their people.
“But anyway.” He said taking a swig of beer. “We were in what’s now California…. Death Valley. I don’t know if it was a mirage, or what, but I Do know that he was literally walking power. The animals we tamed ran off… my father was killed within a few minutes, trying to fight him alone while I was in a daze.”
“You didn’t help?” I asked and he laughed a single ‘Ha’.
“What could I Do? I was fucking 15 or 16, tired and thirsty after Months of searching and saving one random village or another, sailing the ocean in a boat, crashing it, fuck I even got scurvy.” he said shaking his head. “And then this 9 foot tall monster walks to me… accompanied by a flying fucking snake as tall as a building. He didn’t think I was worth his time, but I begged him to let me join him. It would take him away from my father… but also I wanted to understand what all the fuss was about.”
“You’re lying.” I said calling him out, and he patted me on the back.
“If you Really must know. He defeated my father in fair combat. For Beast Elves, that made him my ‘Alpha’ in your people’s words. He sword fought him until he got bored, and when I picked up my father’s scimitar, I used it to pledge to the only man I’d ever seen defeat him… Your King cannot dance the Dance of Five Blades… his majesty can juggle 10 mortal swords and fight One Handed with his two handed longsword…. He is walking perfection… be glad you hold a faint mark upon yourself. Your mate saves you more than you know.” He said taking another sip.
“He made my father look like a Joke. One who could defeat the First Demon Without a Weapon, was Toyed With. He was my Alpha as you wolves put it…. He was also good to me. He taught me all I know, and encouraged my wit. Father didn’t… I also sided with him because fuck the humans.” He took a large gulp of alcohol. “The Moon Goddess’s imprisonment Will eventually kill her, and then this world is as good as gone regardless to what he does.”
“What?!” I said sitting up. I barely touched mine.
“The only thing keeping her alive is her people’s love. Your prayers and veneration are stolen from her, but she absorbs enough to make it each year… one day… One day Soon, in his anger, Arviel will fuck up, she’ll die permanently… and then my master and his father Will destroy this world… it’ll also rouse someone I swore I would not interact with.…” He said cryptically.
He'd said he swore to secrecy; it wouldn’t be wise to pester him. Instead, I took a sip of my beer. It was elvish, something that reminded him of home, but he was never welcome again…. For siding with the Tyrant… he was banished, stripped of his prince status, removed as an heir of the Beast King Rau, and sentenced to spend a day imprisoned for every mortal killed… and as far as I know, he still had a thousand years of punishment to go….
“The only thing keeping me in here is Diana’s magic. She died to keep me down here, but so long as the Master isn’t awake, there’s no point in trying to break out.” He said calmly. “Plus, I’m sure Ronitus will just Let me out in exchange for peace.” He smiled.
“… Is the Tyrant going to destroy everything when he awakens?” I asked.
“I don’t know. He’s given no orders… he’s said not a single word, nor come in visions or as a spirit… but I am linked to him. He is becoming impatient….” He said looking up. “That’s what scares me… boredom and the Master is a Bad combination…worse still will be his Anger. The right steps are not laid out for his mate yet… but the beings who will birth her are still babes.” He mumbled.
“Who are they?” I asked.
“If I told you, I’d have to wipe your memories.” He said firmly.
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