Angelica sighed and grinned, somewhat grimly, at me. "Alright, you're right. You're just right. I owe you this much, at least." She admitted and then began to contemplate where to begin her tale. A few seconds later she settled on starting at the beginning. The very beginning. Of her life, that is.
"I don't know what you know about angels, so I'll start this off by saying where we can come from. Before the godless age, we most often sprung from the needs and whims of the gods themselves who made us in great numbers, but factories also existed and exist that churn us out in a dimension... far from here." She explained, her gaze locked on mine throughout her explanation of angelic origins.
Her voice was musical, gentle and restorative to listen too. It was something that a lesser mind might have been in danger of becoming lost in if they weren't conscious of her abilities and talents. Nonetheless, I enjoyed hearing her speak and looked forward to the conversation we were beginning.
"I was one of the ones who was churned out from a factory, mere decades ago." She said, her tone suggesting that this was somehow a shameful thing. I nodded at her, and my gaze stayed warmly locked on hers. After a few seconds, she smiled at me and refocused on her tale.
"I am one of two angels who was constructed in tandem as part of what we angels consider a 'family'. I am the diplomat and my brother, who is my only sibling, is the warmonger. Klaus, an angel of war, came with me to Infernius." She told me. This much I knew already, it was a part of her prayer and one of the things I was able to hear from her before I met her.
"Klaus and I were given two missions by our celestial sovereigns. The first mission was to galvanize Paimon's enemies, particular something we've heard referred too as the 'Order of the Dark Saint'. It's apparently a cult with some heretical beliefs about the 'Dark Saint', the mysterious god who ruled over Infernius in the mythic age." She said, and I paused for a second to study her.
I gazed at her, curious as to if to she was hiding something from me. Is she still ignorant as to who I am? Or is this her way of hinting that she knows my true identity? I questioned, my eyes focused on the entirety of her form for a moment. After a few seconds passed she didn't indicate that she knew any more than she had let on. Instead, she continued to explain her missions.
"Our second mission is to uncover the identity of a mysterious angel who has set up shop in this layer of Infernius. It seems that some odd creature, perhaps a gossip or baron angel, is building their own turf somewhere in the city of Bastille." She said, and I immediately thought of the odd angelic entity who had been with Paimon when he and I first met and clashed.
"My brother and I, as well as others of our kind, came here on the orders of the Angelic Authority. The Angelic Authority is the governing body that lords over the dimension of our birth and has ruled over it for the past few centuries." She explained, now revealing something useful. I made a mental note to approach Samyaza about this supposed "Angelic Authority" sometime soon.
At this point, I opted to interrupt her. I allowed my gaze to drift upward from her gentle red lips to her eyes, before I spoke.
"I knew some of that already. I appreciate the honesty you've shown me so far, and will remember it. My main remaining question is if you know why it is that your former superiors seek to take down Paimon? I say 'former' to reinforce the reality you are in. These... angelic sovereigns are no longer your masters. You serve one person. Me." I told her, directly reminding her that any old allegiances she may have had were wiped away now.
She nodded at me, to signal and reassure me that she understood her new circumstances before she responded.
"I don't know every detail behind their reasoning, but I do know that my former superiors were afraid. Are afraid." She said, correcting herself. "They are afraid that Paimon is becoming... something else. Something not devilish. Something unlawful." She said, and as she spoke she shivered slightly, suggesting that this was a fate to be feared, or at least something that Angelica herself was frightened of.
I nodded at this, having heard of Paimon's behavior and his prejudices and recalling them as she spoke about lawfulness. "Paimon has... some deep-seated prejudices against more animalistic looking devils." I said, taking a second to consider how to formulate the rest of my statement.
"One of my servants is a sage and she's a rare sort of devil who has owl-like wings and features. Paimon attacked her and her tribe a very long time ago. He has a history of doing this, or things like it." I informed her, and her face shifted in a way that suggested to me that she had heard similar stories.
"The people who ordered me and my allies to stealthily invade Infernius were afraid that Paimon would eventually evolve. Not into an arch-devil, but that corruption they had spotted taking root in his heart would forcibly transform him into a greater fear-monger. Which would be... cataclysmic for the layer and for the rest of Infernius." She informed me,
I waited for her to expand on her cryptic statement. It didn't take her long to realize I would need a greater explanation than that. Perhaps a quarter of a minute passed before she began to speak again, and in the meantime, there was an awkward silence that filled the room.
"If his corrupted evolution comes to pass, then he'd be rejected by Infernius, and this layer itself would turn on him. As would his former servants. Eventually, he'd be put down, but not before tearing through countless devils and the violence would incredibly weaken this layer. In the worst-case scenario... the damage he'd do would leave this layer in a similar state to the surface of Infernius. He'd die, but this layer would be irreparably damaged. It'd be left a lifeless waste, and unlike the first layer there's no advanced technology here worth salvaging." She said, grimly.
I accepted this statement as true, but still my question remained unanswered. I decided to press the issue, just a bit anyway.
"None of this answers the question of why you were instructed to prevent that from coming to pass. Why do angels care what happens in Infernius? What do they, what do you, have to lose? Nor does it inform me of why your masters believed you possessed the capabilities to do so." I said, bringing up a point that I grew more curious about the more Angelica spoke.
After hearing me ask this she looked up at me and smiled. This was the single widest smile I had seen from her so far, one of genuine amusement and interest.
"You're clever. Good. That will help immeasurably." She said, beaming at me. "I am... was, not very high up in the hierarchy of the Angelic Authority. But even I know this much: my lord, the angelic authority seeks to maintain some sort of balance in the cosmos. They are a neutral organization. They feared the metaphysical fallout were such a cataclysmic event to come to pass." She explained, her voice taking on a tone to suggest that what she was telling me was a sort of sacred secret.
I nodded at her and waited for her to continue. We were both conscious of the fact that she hadn't answered my other question. The one that in the short run mattered more. It only took her a second to begin to speak again.
"They didn't believe that we would succeed. Not on our own anyway. I am certain that the intention behind sending us to Bastille was to begin to prepare for a more substantial intervention." She said, candidly. At this point I glimpsed into her mind, scanning it to see if there was any possibility she was trying to deceive me about anything she had shared so far.
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An angelic mind, even at a glance, was a whole different monster compared to a mortal mind. I didn't need to sneak into it to try and detect any deception, but I did have to glance at it and what I saw was fascinating.
The glimpse of Angelica's mind that I saw differed from any sort of mortal mind "I" in the grand sense had either invaded or infiltrated. Where mortal minds had a large black border, hers had a dense white one. Where mortal minds had little houses that presumably symbolized their conscious minds, hers was a tiny, closed temple.
This is fascinating, but now is not the time, and she is not the angel to experiment on and learn from regarding this. I told myself, reigning in the curiosity that flared up within me when I got to "see" her mind. But that didn't stop me from making a mental note to find an angel I could experiment on and whose mind I could take risks with, in the name of satiating my curiosity, at a later date.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
My quick glimpse into the contents of her recent statements revealed only that she was being honest with me. That was commendable, and it suggested that she'd become a useful servant in the days to come. Good. I could see her becoming incredibly handy when it comes to dealing with humanoids. I thought, already scheming about her uses.
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Back in the physical world of my realm, I smiled at her and let my eyes convey that I appreciated her candor.
"For now you've told me all you need to tell me. Would you like to stay here, in this house?" I asked her, looking at her curiously. I didn't think she'd be eager to stay in a living house, which was probably how most naturally born mortals would feel about that. She shivered, but not in delight after I finished speaking, and I audibly laughed.
"Lord... no. I wouldn't like that." She said, and I grinned at her. "I hope you aren't offended, I don't mean any offense, but I would not like that at all. Do you have any normal houses I could dwell in?" She asked, a somber expression on her face.
I looked at her for a few moments, maintaining a sort of neutral look on my face as if I were scrutinizing her, and then I spoke. "Of course I do. Pick a home, and make it yours. I'll leave a mark on it to indicate that it is your property. I was joking... somewhat anyway, about you staying in one of the living houses." I told her and then stood up.
"Take some time to rest. If you want to venture above ground... don't. 'Above ground' exists, but it's an endless forest. This realm, as it is right now anyway, is modeled after the sorts of environments I've seen in a mortal world, the mortal world I was born in. I haven't seen much yet, and so much of this place hasn't been directly touched by me." I explained.
"Every living thing here, even the living houses, worship me, including lots of dangerous, vicious animals and I don't contain them or control them, I let them embrace their instincts. If you go above ground, you'd get lost or attacked. Probably both. Stay here, rest, and send me a mental message when you have had time to settle in and get used to this realm. When you do, I'll introduce you to my other servants and worshipers." I told her. She nodded at me and got up.
I gestured towards the door that led out of the house and watched as she walked towards it, opened it, and then went through it. Without a moment of hesitation, she walked out of sight and was gone. I spent a second listening to her walking and then willed myself out of my home realm. My powers instantly grabbed me and deposited me back in the cell she had spent an unknown amount of time in.
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Like Angelica, I didn't hesitate. I walked out of the cell and up to the stone statue that laid on the floor. It was the remains of my enemy, the devil-monk, Bluemoon Thunderfist.
The statue was of a figure in pain, his hands clutching his stomach. I studied it, recalling how Thunderfist had gotten me by surprise and hit me once with a surprisingly painful blow to my face. He wasn't weak. It's a shame I had to be his opponent. Against many other foes, he would have been very effective. I thought, respecting his skills enough to acknowledge him as a warrior.
The statue in front of me raised a lot of questions, questions I knew to prioritize. After all... someone could come up here and in doing so cause all of my stealth to be undone. But how do I handle this statue... this man? I wondered, as I visually explored the statue.
I knelt down and looked at it, examining the finer details of the effects of my magic. While looking at it and thoroughly studying it, I wondered something a bit random. Would this be art? Is something this... macabre, art? Personally, if asked I would have argued that it was art.
I sighed and considered the tools at my disposal to handle Thunderfist. I have magic I could use for this, but I could also just use my fungal powers. It wouldn't be a challenge for me to use my spores to seize control of this devil's mind, which is the simplest way to do this that doesn't involve me killing this devil. I realized. I could also gain an ally this way. I thought as if I needed another reason to my eerie fungal powers on the devil that punched me in the face.
I took a second to ready myself, and then lifted the statue up so that it was standing on two feet and not laid flat on the ground. Then I began to deactivate my spell, just enough for his face to begin to revert to flesh, rather than stone. While that was occurring I initiated my mind-jamming power so that he couldn't send out a message to his superiors.
The reversion from stone to flesh was a quick process, no doubt spurred on by my will. I watched as Thunderfist's hair reverted from stone to its natural form, and shortly thereafter that spread to his face as well. When his eyes were restored they began to frantically speed about, scanning his surroundings with a look of fear and anger in them.
When his nose was restored I moved close to it and exhaled spores almost directly into them. His eyes narrowed as I approached, but he was helpless to resist the power of the spores once they were inside of him. His eyes closed and his mind slowed, even as the spell continued to come undone. I watched as he fell unconscious, which occurred right as his mouth was restored to its original, fleshy, form.
"I won't take any chances with this fellow." I said to no one in particular, as I willed myself into his mind and began the speedy process of stealing memories from it. This way, even if the spores don't work he doesn't remember that anything was amiss. I told myself as I hopped into the devil's mind.
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When I departed from his mind, with all of the memories of my intrusion and our fight in-hand and out of his memory, a process that took less than two minutes, I set about completing the one remaining task in this cell. I did this by weaving together a simple illusion intended to fool Thunderfist.
It was based on his memories of Angelica, and I was thankful for her stoicism because it made creating the illusion quite simple. All I did was create an illusion of her praying, and occasionally milling about, and I set it to be active until I consciously undid it. This process took less than a minute.
"Now that all of that is done... I think I'll do something that a prankster or thief would do." I said a sinister grin on my face. Having this dungeon under my control would be quite useful, and so I figured since I was here, I might as well take it.
I willed myself to be incorporeal again, and then leaped up, using as much strength as I could to throw myself towards the top of this dungeon. I sailed through the dungeon's many floors rapidly. Before my very eyes, I watched as assorted floors vanished in a blur, my form speeding through their floors and then their roofs in an instant.
My eyes and memory were strong and quick enough for me to note the assorted prisoners I had seen in the cells I zipped by, as well as the diverse sorts of guards that appeared before me, and then vanished from my sight as I whizzed past them undetected.
I saw all sorts on my speedy trip up the dungeon's otherwise exhausting lengths. I saw orcs, humans, goblins, and a number of creatures I had never seen before, guarded by giants, soldierly-looking devils, and dwarves who rode on impressively looking insects with thick shells and mighty horns. They'll all serve me, in their own way, soon enough. I thought, grinning as I began to slow down.
It took me nearly a minute before I came to a stop. When it happened I was in a hallway that was just like all of the others I had zipped past. I sighed in annoyance and repeated what I had just done but with less force this time. Given how I fast I sailed through the air, there was no possible way I wasn't close to the top of this annoying eyesore.
This time I sailed more slowly through the air, but still impossibly fast. I sped through the air until I actually bounded out of the obelisk and found myself in the open air above the city of Namira. All around me, for kilometers, in fact, I could see the landscape of the city. I saw the architecture of the giants clash with the vastness of the desert and almost admired it until I remembered that it was a sign that I hadn't properly gauged my strength.
"Damnit!" I shouted, with no one around to hear me as I expressed my agitation. I let myself float freely above the city for just a second, before I willed myself back down, back into the onyx building that imprisoned countless creatures and kept all sorts of giants and other beings gainfully employed. It took me a second to reach it, and then again I was surrounded by the deep darkness of the dungeon.
In the highest chamber of the dungeon, as I figured it would be, was the office where the dungeon's heart was kept. And I reached it mere moments after I threw myself back into this odd prison.
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The office I found myself in was a simple place. It was a fusion of a bedroom and a workplace, with a single, thin, for giants anyway, bed situated in the heart of the room, surrounded by countless bookshelves. They were clearly decorations which helped prevent the darkness of the room's walls from darkening the room itself and were made of bright wood.
On one end of the room was a desk, sized for a desert giant. And floating on top of that desk was the spherical orb which was the physical manifestation of the energies which coursed through the dungeon. I studied it as I approached it, floating up to the thing while admiring its beauty.
The heart was a solid orb, made of the same obsidian which made up the walls of this dark place. It radiated darkness in the same way as the heart of Agowraith's tomb radiated bright light. As I drew close to the thing, a familiar notification appeared in my mind.
[Do you wish to claim the dungeon heart of the Onyx Obelisk as your own? If you do, you gain possession of this prison, you learn its history, and you gain access to the dungeon master's menu. And you gain control of any wild animals living in this dungeon, though in this case, not the other organic monsters who live here. Animals, including insects here, will become your familiars. This is because wild animals and insects in this dungeon were created using dungeon energy, which isn't the case for other creatures here.]
I grinned, and prepared to question the system, intending to learn what I could about this, before I accepted control of the prison.