In the world of The Misplaced Dungeon.
{Timeline: September 2018 – MD starts during Ch. 9}
Zarnjdfjgmn the Incubus had just completed the task imposed on him by the dungeon of Hell’s Mouth and its companion the wraith Arbogar. He stood at one point of a triangle that enclosed an elaborate set of dark magical runes that surrounded a brown tourmaline. The other points of the triangle were taken up by Hell’s Mouth’s Sapphire core and a hovering Arbogar.
As Arbogar chanted his ritual Zarnjdfjgmn waited nervously. At the appropriate point in the ritual Zarnjdfjgmn released the soul of the young woman he had gathered slowly and carefully, absorbing some of her worst memories as he did so. Then Arbogar’s magic caught hold of the soul and it was sucked into the gem and with a final twist Hell’s Mouth and Arbogar sealed the now glowing tourmaline.
« You have done well Zarnjdfjgmn, leave now and enjoy your reward. » Hell’s Mouth voice echoed in Zarnjdfjgmn’s head.
He sneered and snarled a few times just for show then vanished. As hell strove to claim him once more he clung desperately to the soul seed he had planted in the boy and slowly dragged himself back into the world.
Joyfully Zarnjdfjgmn poured his soul, his very being into the thoroughly corrupted youth he had selected during his previous visit to the village in the low hills just beyond the central desert and started to access the child’s memories. The soul of his victim proved elusive and slipped his grasp, it was jerked out of his grasp, and snapped into his former body as this was dragged down to the hells.
Something had gone wrong, Zarnjdfjgmn, no he was Abriman now. Abriman shook his head and scanned those few memories he had been able to read. Truly Abriman had been truly evil, his father’s teachings and example had guaranteed that. Abriman had so far always appeared under his father’s shadow. He could use that; he had to use that and with that witch hunter in the village he had to be careful. Wait what was that, in the back of his mind, oh right it was the soul of the old woman.
Abriman took stock of his situation, the System allowed him to learn that he was now just five months short of the date he would become an adult, it would seem that his magical affinities and abilities had remained with him but the prissy System was censoring and suppressing them until he had passed his fourteenth birthday. So not much help there, he was left with three spells he could use, ironically they were the first ones he had learned before becoming an Incubus but thankfully they were the stronger version of those spells.
So he snuck out of his, no Abriman’s father’s house and set about exploring the village, it was small with just over forty houses and shops many now abandoned and decaying mostly clustered around the open common but several followed the north south road that ran through the village. And all the while the old woman whispered in the back of his mind.
The common was depressing, it was still decorated with the remains of a large fire around a fire stained chain bedecked iron post. He looked at the jail house or should that be the torture house. With his magical vision he could easily sense the miasma of evil and despair that surrounded it.
Then he recollected one of the memories he had been able read before the former owner of his body had been relocated, they had dragged a girl into that hellhole yesterday. He felt the old woman’s soul stir once again. Something had to be done, if Rovoc continued to find “witches” to torture and kill soon there would be no women or girls left in the village and he NEEDED women and girls. They were delightful and... something the System was preventing him from remembering. And anyway it was an awful waste and as the old woman kept whispering in the back of his head just not right.
Maybe he could get her out, this was the first night they probably wouldn’t have started the torture yet. He hoped they hadn’t started the torture yet or it could prove hard to move her.
He remembered his last visit when as an incubus he had sought a soul for Hell’s Mouth. There were two longish blank patches in his memories, things the System didn’t consider it appropriate for the current him to remember, he could only hope it was nothing important. The old woman in the back of his mind snorted in amusement.
So, front door leading to a small reception cum guard room with two doors, one leading to a mostly empty and disgusting kitchen at the front of the house and the other to the well equipped torture chamber that occupied the centre of the house, then a door opening in the centre of a short corridor that had three solid wooden doors with barred windows that secured the cells.
Abriman debated returning to his current abode to get a weapon but decided against it, he waited until the lesser moon rose in the sky before cautiously approaching the only door to the prison. He almost snorted in derision when he realised it wasn’t locked or secured in any way. He eased it open and stepped inside before closing it equally carefully. He could hear snoring coming from the kitchen.
Stolen novel; please report.
The inner door was locked, Abriman looked round the room to see if he could find something to use to pick the lock. He shook his head in bemusement; the keys were lying in plain sight on the rickety table that served as a desk. He managed to pick them up without making a sound and the lock opened with a muted click. He eased it open and stepped inside the dark room. His eyes adjusted quickly and he found he could see almost as well in the dark as when he had been an Incubus.
The girl was quite naked and strapped to the rack; she had several nasty looking burns on her torso and limbs. ‘Carminia,’ said the voice in the back of his mind shocked, ‘but she’s only a child!’
Abriman tiptoed across to Carminia and laid a hand over her mouth as he woke her. “Please don’t make a sound Carminia, I’m here to free you,” he whispered.
Carminia woke stiff with terror and she watched Abriman with widened eyes. She couldn’t believe the evil little so and so was here in the middle of the night to help her, but... hope flared in her breast.
Abriman cast his only healing spell twice then he got to work undoing the straps. When he succeeded he helped her up and passed her his coat. Carminia wasted no time shrugging it on, it revealed a good deal too much of her legs but it was way better than nothing.
Abriman kept getting a nagging feeling that he was missing something here, reinforced by several occurrences of the System’s active censorship of his memories.
Once back in the reception area Abriman looked at the door to the kitchen and then at Carminia’s bare feet. He drew in a long steady breath to calm his nerves then carefully opened the door. The old man from his last visit, the master torturer was lying oblivious on the table. He jerked as he felt a blast of hatred from the back of his mind. Calming himself he moved into the room quietly thanking his almost demon sight and when so close he couldn’t possibly miss he released the most potent ice bolt he could cast directly into the master torturer’s temple. The old man stopped snoring as his head collapsed into a frozen mess.
He quickly located Carminia’s things, most of her clothes had been ruined but there were other women’s clothes stored here so he was able to pass the girl a bundle of things. His search also turned up a well filled purse containing bits and quarters.
They left the torture house and he led the way out of town and to where just days ago he remembered overflying a deserted shack on the hill to the south of the village. It was filthy but it would do as somewhere to make plans, he had two women to talk to, one traumatised and one dead.
Carminia was totally bemused, she couldn’t believe that this was Abriman, not that she’d had anything to do with him previously but he had seemed a perfect copy of his sadistic father. Not someone who could cast spells and handed her clothing without comment and... and saved her.
Once in the filthy dilapidated shed that she had not known existed, Abriman turned and rubbing a – tear-streaked? – face dropped cross legged to a relatively clear patch of floor.
Abriman decided to give the speech he had been working on ever since leaving the village with the help of the old woman in the back of his mind.
“I’m sorry I’ve been such a... I was so afraid of father... I couldn’t just... not any longer, I had planned to just wait till I was fourteen and vanish but... Sorry!”
Carminia was stunned, she could understand that Abriman was scared of his father, the man was a monster after all but she was still having difficulty wrapping her mind round this new Abriman.
Abriman drew a visible deep breath and sighed as he tried to gauge Carminia’s reaction carefully following the suggestions originating in the back of his mind totally unaware that his eyes were glowing with a dim golden light.
Carminia sat herself carefully on the floor in front of her saviour and uneasily wondered about the golden light that danced in his eyes. “So now what Abriman?”
“I don’t know, the easiest thing would be to run to the nearest settlement but... what about the other girls that are starting to become women... Rovoc is crazy and getting worse... I – I can’t just bring myself to abandon them... but... they’d never trust me would they?”
‘Old one, any advice you could give would be welcome, I truly do not want to loose any girls to this madness, even as an Incubus and my memories of that time are getting faint, I only preyed on adults, adults with sins on their souls. But that was my preference others of my kind were not so... choosy.’
Carminia licked her lips nervously and studied the boy opposite her, “no they wouldn’t, they’d see you as a copy of your father.”
“That’s fair I guess, I was trying to seem like one to avoid his anger. I was afraid he’d kill me.”
Carminia blinked as she sought to rearrange her thoughts and feelings, “There are only two other girls that have started their blood times, if I talk to them I think I can persuade them to leave, and I think Raaksana’s father is planning to bolt with his family.”
“Can we do it tonight or...”
Carminia gulped nervously as she rubbed the now flawless skin of her arm, “Yes! But we, I’ll contact Raaksana last.”
The two returned to the village and approached the back of a small house on the North road. Abriman found a good location to keep watch while Carminia approached the house. Abriman was starting to worry at the delay when Carminia left the house and came towards him escorting two small figures.
There was some frantic whispering when they recognised him and had to be reassured that yes Abriman had been the one to rescue her and no he was not the evil git he had always portrayed.
Their second stop was deeper in the village and Abriman once again found a good spot to keep watch, the two girls hid near him and Carminia headed for the home of her best friend Raaksana. Some fifteen minutes later she frantically waved at them to join her, somewhat reluctantly Abriman did so with the two girls.
Gortag regarded the boy thoughtfully, he found it very hard to credit that he had had a spine all this time and that he had broken free of his father. Gortag embraced Abriman as he uttered, “thank you for saving her.”
Abriman who had started the rescue for mostly selfish reasons started to cry as he felt something in his soul realign. Helping people who needed it felt... good!
It was shortly after midnight that the small group of people slipped over the hill and headed south.