***The Infernal Plane of Lust***

***Amon***

I walked down the stairway and into the tavern's eating hall, hopeful that this morning would bring new luck and plenty of souls for me. Well, maybe not the latter, that would probably be asking a little too much after my little exploit just three nights prior.

Uphir and Philomena were already waiting at the same table at which we parted the night before, so I joined them and we waited for the others while the two of them made idle chit-chat. It sounded to me like they spent the night together, but I didn't pry into their exact relationship, nor did I really want to know how it felt to be with a female that was three to four heads taller.

Instead, I busied myself with a little magical training. Using telekinesis to float a handful of pebbles around in various patterns didn't require a lot of energy, but it was a good control exercise. And control was something I direly needed if I ever wanted to cast several spells at once.

My training came to an end when the rest of the party made an appearance.

It didn't surprise me that Jada was clinging to Shax's tail when the large demon descended the stairway sideways because it wasn't intended for someone of his bulk.

What almost had me make a double-take was that Kitia came down happily chatting with Isabella as if the two of them were old friends. That definitely wasn't normal. Did Kitia run into the succubus after she left my room?

The idea of the two females spending the night together wormed its way into my thoughts and I watched warily as they came closer. I addressed Kitia as soon as they reached comfortable speaking distance. “Kitia, is everything alright?”

The demoness frowned. “Of course.”

“I just meant because of last night?” I pursed my lips, unsure of how to approach the subject in the presence of the others. I also wasn’t completely sure whether she had been serious that our encounter meant nothing. “We are cool, right?”

She nodded but looked a little confused on the matter of what I was referring to. “Yeah? Sorry for just speaking over you yesterday. It wasn’t my favour to take, but I really thought that Isabella’s offer would make it much easier for us in the long run. None of us has any connections on this plane.”

“Aw, don’t worry,” Isabella butted into the conversation. “I likely would have helped you guys anyway. Amon is a hard nut to crack, but I am still enamoured by him. It’s not every day I get to meet someone who is rising to power that quickly. Any woman would be into him.”

I looked at the succubus, trying to find out why it felt like something was off with this conversation.

Uphir left me no time for lamentation as he joined in. “I think that we should find ourselves the settlement’s Anima Stone and set our bind-point. My horns have been itching ever since we came to Lust and it became worse with every hour without a safety net.”

“Not necessary.” Jada waved her hand dismissively. “Once you join the warband they will have you bind to their personal Anima Stone anyway.”

“They have their own Anima Stone?” Jebril exclaimed from behind Jada. The djinn had sneaked up from somewhere and listened in on everything. “That’s expensive! Only really powerful people such as whole settlements and hatcheries have their own Stone,” she exclaimed excitedly.

“Of course they have, including their own soulship. They wouldn’t be a proper warband otherwise,” Isabella explained patiently.

Jebril looked at Isabella and then suddenly sidled up to me, getting right into my face. “I know that we haven’t talked about this yet, but is it possible that I could tag along? My current employment status is a little uncertain and I don’t know where to gobah-”

I raised a hand and pushed her face back to a reasonable distance. “Do what you want as long as you don’t become a burden. And get up to me like that a second time and I will snap off that horn of yours. There is something called personal space.”

“No!” Jebril raised her hands protectively to her horn and gave me an injured look.

Sighing, I jerked my head towards the door while I addressed Isabella, “Just let’s get going and not waste any more time.” I would get to the root of all of this at some point – in private and without a fuss. But for now, even I wanted to get quick access to an Anima Stone.

We departed from the tavern and Jada led us deeper into the settlement known by the name of Irkos.

The architecture surprised me as we explored the place. From the outside, the whole structure looked like a stitched-together mess of medieval castle buildings that resembled an anthill in their whole. Around this conglomeration of architecture was an outer wall and some lone buildings – one of which was the tavern in which we had found shelter.

But Jada led us through one of the ground-level streets to the main structure’s inside, where everything became more organic and modern with round and smooth curves. The outside was warning everyone away. Whereas, from the inside, the settlement was suddenly almost pleasing to the eye. Another thing was that the inside of the main structure was hollow and filled with walkways that led from one side to the other.

I tried to work out how a hollow setup such as this could be anything aside from inefficient when Jada reached an open-style elevator which led up the inner structure. It looked surprisingly modern, like it could fit right into a high-tech civilisation's skyscraper, and was apparently operated with magic. The thing was decently made and consisted of metal, aside from the fact that the designers hadn’t given a fuck about safety measures like a decently-sized handrail.

The elevator was large enough to hold all of us and we filed in with those of us who couldn’t fly immediately seeking out the centre of the platform.

Isabella touched a rune on a control panel and the elevator started moving; slowly at first, but with its speed increasing until I felt the pressure of the air moving past us. If I had summoned my wings at that moment, it would have blown me right off the elevator. It took me a moment to realize that we weren’t only going up, but also sideways along the inner wall.

Since it seemed like it would take us a little longer to reach our destination, I decided to ask a question. “You mentioned a soulship earlier. What’s that?”

Kitia answered for the others. “Most of the lesser warbands travel by foot or by wing, but it should be clear that this would limit their radius of operation drastically. It’s a sign of proficiency when the warband in question has a few decent magic users who can open a portal or operate a vessel. In this case, although expensive, soulships are often the preferred choice.

“Over on the Infernal Plane of Wrath is one of the largest weapon forges in the Infernum. Their main export article is soulships, huge behemoths of metal and old-school technology, slapped together with runic magitech. They can easily carry hundreds of troops and portal them wherever they need to be.”

We arrived at one of the upper floors and the elevator came to a slow halt.

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“Hoh, that sounds interesting!” I didn’t know why, but I suddenly felt the urge to see one of those soulships and take it apart. “But it doesn’t explain the name.”

“I am afraid that you would have to ask one of the creators over on Wrath for the reasoning.” Kitia shrugged. “The most logical explanation I can come up with is that warbands who operate such ships do so in order to earn souls and are likely to be very proficient at it. Anyone who sees such a vessel in the sky knows to get away, or his souls might be harvested next. They are ships that harvest souls, so soulships.”

Further explanations had to wait, because we had arrived at our destination, a broad walkway along the inner structure’s wall, somewhere to the right and high above our starting point on the ground.

Isabella led the way to a large door directly opposite to the elevator’s exit, and as soon as the last of us stepped off the elevator it shot away, likely already called by someone else.

The succubus didn’t pay it any mind and knocked on the door, clearly trying to put as much force as possible into each swing. She continued doing so every two or three seconds until, finally, a viewing port opened which was perfectly hidden previously.

“Ebandon’s Warband! State your business or piss off!” the squeaky voice of an imp demanded.

“Isabella Ashborn,” Isabella introduced herself. “I have a group of demons who I would like to introduce to Ebandon – with recommendations.”

A fourth of a face became visible in the dark hole and an eye tried to take in every possible angle as it judged our group. “How do I know that you are really an Ashborn?”

“By moving your little butt and getting Ebandon.” Jada came forth and placed her hands on her hips while she addressed the eye. “Or do we have to take the door down to announce ourselves?”

It looked like the eye in the viewing port would doubt Jada’s claim, but then it flicked to Shax’s impressive form. The owner apparently deemed the huge demon perfectly capable of taking down the door, even if it was made entirely out of metal.

“I will get someone.”

And with that, the viewing port closed.

“I have told them so many times that they shouldn’t use imps to guard the main entrance,” Jada complained with a huff.

“Why would you need more? You can’t expect their warriors to play door-guards if an imp does the job of warning them just as well.” Isabella shrugged.

Then the door opened, and a large warrior demon in full plate mail looked down at everyone except for Shax. He was intimidating, especially with the glowing, red horns that made him look even larger. The imp who had spoken earlier stood next to him, not even reaching the height of the large demon’s knee.

“Uuuh, Kirnok. Long time no see.” Jada leered at the large demon who visibly deflated upon seeing her.

“Jada, what do you want?” Kirnok sounded wary of the succubus, but he didn’t step aside.

Isabella gestured at our group. “We would like to have a word with Ebandon. These guys here are in a bit of a situation at the moment. They were thrown here from Gluttony and are without roots or guidance. It happens so that I owe them, and so I thought that you guys could take them in until they get their feet on the ground.”

“We don’t take in street urchins,” Kirnok replied with resolve.

“Oh, no,” Jada shook her head and took a step forward. “They can certainly do their part. It isn’t like we want you to mollycoddle them.”

Kirnok instantly vacated his position just to get out of Jada’s reach, even though it meant that he was no longer blocking the entrance. Then he noticed that the demoness was holding onto Shax and that the large demon didn’t seem to be a drooling idiot who followed her every whim. “You, how are you doing that?”

Shax blinked, first with one eye, then with the other. “Doing… what?”

“Resisting her!” Kirnok actually sounded like he was grudgingly impressed.

Shax shrugged in a disturbing manner, lifting both his shoulders slightly out of sync. “Just… don’t listen…”

Jada butted in and pulled Shax through the entrance. “My Shaxy-baby is special! You might learn a thing or two if you take him in. Come on in, guys.”

We followed and I didn’t dare to draw attention. If Isabella’s mind-bending powers were impressive to me, then why was this Kirnok guy so taken with Shax’s ability to resist Jada? An attribute which I desired without doubt, but not if it meant to reduce my mental faculties in the same manner that Shax apparently had to suffer.

Kirnok growled as we stepped into the reception room that was hidden behind the heavy door. But he thought better of it and gestured for the imp to close the door behind us before he led us further into his warband’s headquarters along a long corridor.

We finally reached an office with a genuinely unremarkable demon who had several imp attendees. The demon who looked like an old man gestured for the imps to make themselves scarce when he saw Jada and they vanished with little pops of air that didn't seem like teleportation to me.

“What can I do for the Ashborns today?” He pointed, and a chair that was facing his desk simply popped into existence.

Jada didn’t show any surprise and took a seat. “Hi, Ebandon. I am sure that you used observation at the door, so do I really have to repeat myself?”

The old man coughed, but I had a feeling that it was all a ruse. I never heard of demons actually getting old. Unless that was an unfortunate feature of his evolution?

“It would be nice to repeat yourself in this case, even if it is just for formality’s sake,” Ebandon replied. “It sounded like you wanted to unload an undesirable burden on me.”

“Whether it is undesirable is not for me to judge, but it happens so that my little sister owes something to this group and we thought that you might be able to help these youngsters who found themselves in some trouble and without a roof above their heads.” Jada swung one curved leg over the other and smiled. “They are in need of employment and education. Be assured that they are promising, even if they ascended only recently.”

Ebandon huffed and studied us. “They don’t look like much. What do I get from employing them? Normally, I only take in people with two millennia of experience or older.”

“The continued good will of your patron, Lady Ashley, and her daughters. If that is not enough, I may be able to pay you a pretty bauble or two.”

The old demon shook his head. “We have no need for currency. Favours and good will, that’s how my warband always stays afloat. And I have heard about the uproar in Gluttony. Ostreios placed a bounty on whoever orchestrated the destruction of half his city. I assume that these ones are involved if they have no roots in Lust?”

I skilfully ignored the nervous glances that wandered my way. If anything, a general bounty would make any of my underlings less likely to talk.

“It’s fine then because Amon and his group are very capable young men and women,” Jada sidestepped the matter of the bounty and gestured for me to come forward.

I did so and nodded towards Ebandon. “I am Amon.”

The old demon nodded. “And what would you be able to give in return, should I take you and your people in?”

Jada frowned. “Haven’t I already offered that I and Isa will be the ones to pay?”

Ebandon nodded yet again. “That is true, and what is between you and Amon is none of my business. But at the same time, you succubi won’t be the ones who will stay under my roof. It’s Amon and his people who will cause trouble and be a burden. And that is a matter between us.”

I smiled, liking the way this demon thought. “As long as there is no reason to do otherwise, all I and my people can do is to offer our loyalty to your cause. Apart from that, I doubt that there is anything we can give that would interest someone like you.”

“Hm.” The old demon nodded and turned his attention to Jada. “And you, there is indeed a little favour you could take care of. Another up and coming warband has taken a liking to hitch-hiking on my own contracts. They have cost me quite some souls by getting in our way. You wouldn’t be able to take a short stroll through their barracks on your way out? I don’t ask anything more.”

Jada inclined her head affirmatively. “It is done once I know the name.”

“Grorak’s Raiders!” Ebandon spit on the ground and an imp appeared out of nowhere with a towel and started scrubbing before he vanished with a ‘plop’.

The succubus nodded and her earnest demeanor vanished before she clapped her hands together and threw herself onto Shax’s arm. “Now that that’s done, give mama a kiss before she goes to punish the evil men.” She kissed his biceps, actually leaving a red mark.

“Grah…” Shax swung at her as if trying to swat a fly, but Jada ducked away and blew him a second kiss before she vanished out the door.

I had no time to be bemused about the scene because two hands suddenly grabbed my chin and the back of my head before Isabella planted a wet one on my cheek.

“Infernum!” I used the sleeve of my robe to get the slobber off of me.

“I will be back in two or three weeks. Just wait for me and become plenty strong in the meantime,” she promised and followed her sister out the door.

Thankfully, Ebandon simply ignored the scene and went on to other matters. “Kirnok! Run them through the ropes. Get them registered at the Anima Stone and introduce them to the trainers. Mages and physical combat types, I presume?” The old demon looked from me and Kitia to Jebril, and then over the rest until his eyes fell on Uphir. “Though, that one looks more like an assassin.”

The large warrior nodded and herded us out the door and towards what would likely become our new life for the foreseeable future.