Entry 1
On this date–the 5th of Seta, 3010–I, Raphael, Angel of Iudex, in the guise of Rayfa Justborn Viswan, have officially landed within the Dark Lands and begun my infiltration mission into the Valondrac Empire.
My first thoughts: The Dark Lands are far less dark than I was led to believe.
While I could chalk this surprising fact up to rumors failing to meet reality, my previous excursions to the Dark Lands–while in my role as a companion and guide to heroes, back when that was my job 2000+ years ago–showed a sky that was genuinely wreathed in eternal shadow. Or just really overcast.
So landing in the Dark Lands to find it bright and sunny like an average summer day was both refreshing and confusing.
Theory: Is the pleasant climate a ploy by the Demon Lord Valondrac to lower the guards of unwary visitors? Is Valondrac strong enough to control the weather? The Ancient Tempest is said to be the elder ancient god of storms; possible path to weather control? Note: Eternal Night seems to be a thing for past Demon Lords. Possible connections to vampires? Has a decrease in vampiric nobility’s influence resulted in less push for eternal nighttime? Potential route to investigate.
The city I landed in was called Cityport. This is an exceptionally boring name, far less creative than previous city names, such as the grand metropolis/necropolis of Daizenicra, so I was further disappointed along with being confused and somewhat annoyed that the bright sun was getting in my eyes.
Note: Was Daizenicra the one that sank into mud when the Demon Lord Orlov died? Maybe look that up. Also, buy a sunhat. Further Note: Why do so many Dark Land cities/fortresses fall apart when their master dies? Are Demon Lords like load-bearing columns? Maybe. Is magic involved? Probably. Did darklanders stop using creative names after their cities kept getting destroyed? Possibly. Investigate further.
Regardless, my first impressions of the city were that it was very typical for a darklander city; so mostly dark stones, iron fencing, and skeleton decorations. Darklanders, through their ties to the gods of death, are very attached to the skeletal aesthetic, and necromantic practices in general, as evidenced by the animated skeletons acting as port watchmen within iron gibbets.
Very animated, in fact. To the point of being talkative. And, in one’s case, overly familiar.
To be temperate is to be controlled in being and modest in actions, without moving towards extremes. As such, the most pertinent reaction when dealing with a skeletal sentry commenting on one’s figure, particularly how one’s chest looks in a blouse in a deliberately uncouth manner, was to immediately remove the sentry from the situation via exploding it by expanding all the air in its ribcage. Not out of an immediate reflex caused by raised ire, but by careful decision-making within the necessary seconds of response time.
In short, I blew up a sentry because it was rude, then removed myself from the situation by walking very fast and pretending nothing had happened. Such are the ways of the temperate.
Context: The logic is simple. Since not reacting was one extreme, and overreacting and destroying the dock was the other, the middle ground was destroying the offending sentry. Simple.
My travels deeper into Cityport showed me a bustling municipality in the throes of some type of holiday, which was curious as it was still ten days until the solstice. So of course I inquired into the reasons for why red streamers were hung from the lampposts and sugary cookies were being sold at stalls.
Apparently, darklanders–at least those in the Korikalaba region–have a holiday called Sunder Day, referencing a time in which the Demon Lord Burgo the Red, known for his immense greed, cruelty, and enslavement of the populace, was violently overthrown by the darklanders themselves before he could even try to invade the Light Lands, which did explain why I had no idea this person even existed. Especially since he was succeeded by Krazan the Black, who became very well known for all the whipping and abduction, but I digress.
According to the tales, the looting of Burgo’s fortress resulted in a widespread sharing of his hoarded wealth, so the holiday carries a tradition of charity and giving to the less fortunate. A remarkably noble ideal for darklanders, so of course the current holiday involves a great deal of one upmanship by buying the most expensive of gifts to lavish on family members.
Note: I did buy a flame globe for Michael, since I’m positive they’d love it; they’re these cute little glass globes filled with orange particles of some type, portraying either Lord Burgo’s fortress or other famous castles in miniature, and you can shake the globe to symbolize the fires that destroyed the buildings. It’s remarkably pretty and quite cute!
I was not distracted by the festivities though, and I fully remembered my purpose in the city, which was to find ways to further infiltrate the Dark Lands. And the most obvious way in which to do that was to find the town’s information board and see what types of jobs were posted, so I asked the closest orc where I could find one.
He told me it was at the employment office. I confess, I had no idea what one of those were.
From the context, it sounded like a less specialized guild hall, perhaps as a way to recommend jobs to those searching or, more sinisterly, as a method of keeping all forms of employment under the control of the Demon Lord. Though if it was the latter, the information given on the noticeboard outside the office must have been encrypted. Otherwise, why would it advertise a book club?
Note: Investigate what type of book “The Wild Feel” is. Potentially a grimoire on the magics of Therian?
The interior of the office was what one would expect from a darklander’s interior design sense: lots of bones. Fishbones patterns in the tiling and along the walls, mostly. The room itself was very large and open, where desks lined one wall and clerks aided local darklanders in whatever nefarious or mundane business they were up to.
A worker, specifically a goblin who stood a little over waist height when compared to my own and who looked somewhat adorable in his very professional vest, greeted me in a nasal voice and asked if I had an appointment.
I said no, because I didn’t.
He was very accommodating though, explaining that walk-ins were perfectly acceptable, before giving me a stack of paperwork that I was required to fill out due to the lack of appointment and prior records. I, of course, read through them thoroughly to see exactly what I needed to fill out and ensure that I wasn’t signing any cursed contract that would sign over my soul, something to always be watched out for when dealing with demons.
It was mainly basic info though: my name, where I lived, what I specialized in with magic, etc. Easy enough to fill out with my perfectly memorized false identity, and as I filled out my information, I easily deduced the true purpose behind these questions.
The Demon Lord was seeking out those who would qualify to join her army! The employment offices are clearly her way of rooting out those who would be most useful to her empire so she might integrate them into her forces! And if I was correct in my deduction–which I definitely was–then it would allow me easy access into her forces through careful manipulation of her own systems!
Then a thought occurred to me and I asked if I could apply to work for the Demon Lord directly.
The clerk answered affirmatively.
I’m still surprised it’s just that easy.
Apparently anyone can directly apply to work in the imperial military or labor service–
Note: The Labor Service is apparently a dedicated worker corps under the authority of the Demon Lord that is sent to work in different areas as needed/requested by the locals, kind of like bands of traveling workers. Just with governmental authority and protection.
–and as a lightlander, I was afforded an “affirmative action initiative” that allowed me to be posed in the capital, upon my request. Which I did request, because obviously, for there are plenty of openings for go-getters, according to the clerk, and I am the going-est of getters, according to myself.
I did have to go through a special interview though, and that is where I ran into a small issue.
The second office I entered was smaller, carpeted, and contained a single desk with a door on the opposite side that a man entered through.
When I saw him, I felt a sudden stirring in my chest. An intense sensation that I knew, immediately, what it had to be: Instinctual hatred.
And the man across from me clearly felt the same, judging by the immediate downturn of his lips as his red eyes locked with mine. His pitch-black face twisted into a sneer of disgust and contempt that I, in turn, managed to keep from forming on my own face in favor of the polite, helpful smile of an extremely aggravated individual who still needed to be nice to the person in front of them for the sake of their own personal gain.
The man was somewhat plain, aside from his clearly demonic heritage. His red hair was cut neatly and he had a short beard.
I greeted him first, with a “Good afternoon.”
His response was “Yes, it was.”
Things had started perfectly, so I write with complete sarcasm.
The interaction went as such:
“Sit,” the man said as he took his own seat, so I did the natural thing and sat across from him, at the other side of the desk, “You would be the lightlander then.”
“I would be, yes, if you’re referring to the female elf known as Rayfa Viswan from Tramontava. And you would be, good sir?” I inquired, keeping perfectly polite even as I examined the man in front of me. At this point, I had assumed he was demonic, but I noticed his clearly mortal traits, and thus reassessed that he was a type of cambion instead.
His nostrils flared, an interesting tell, and he folded his hands on the desk. “Saksi. Of Maleficaba.”
His words were vague but informative. Maleficaban cambion, flaring nostrils indicative of a tendency to smell the air, attributes of darkness and fire; the safe guess was the lycan variant of cambions known as hellhounds.
Note: There is some question as to whether hellhounds are in fact lycans that have demonic heritage and are thus altered by demonic blood, or if they are actually demons that mimic lycans. The answer would probably be found in discovering whether the “hound” form or the “folk” form is the default for them.
I continued. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sir Saksi. I hope our meeting today will be a productive one.”
“Quite. You want to join our forces in Capitalia. Why?”
“I would like to join the ‘labor force’ in the capital, yes. As to why, I want to be in the best place to guarantee my future success, and the capital of a country is the center of its culture.”
“Not always. Plenty of famous cities have existed without being the actual capital of a country.”
“Certainly, but I also presume I will be safer in the nation’s capital than in any other given city. I would never cast aspersions on your people, but lingering resentments can easily exist, and even if there are none to be found at all, I feel like I would be safer within the city guaranteed to be the most law-abiding in the nation.” If just because it would reflect badly on the Demon Lord if she couldn’t keep her own capital in order, so I thought at the time.
"And how am I to trust someone to be law abiding if they'll lie to me?"
"Excuse me?" I kept my face neutral, not allowing any tell.
"You claim to be an elf, and yet it's obvious to me that you aren't." A sneer twisted his already arrogant visage. If he was looking down at me further, he would be leaning back. "Don't think you can just hide that divine stench on you."
"Excuse me?" I repeated as I brought my hands to my lap, ready to attack if necessary. There was no need to conjure magic just yet, but it was best to be ready. Carelessness is next to stupidity.
He continued. "So tell me, what's a nephilim planning on doing in the capital?"
"Nephilim?" I couldn’t believe my luck in that moment. The fortune and misfortune mixed in such a strange way that I immediately came up with a new spin to my false story on the spot.
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"What, don't tell me you don't even know what that means."
"No it's just…" I cast my gaze away from his in a false but hopefully convincing sign of submission and looked down at my lap. "I had no idea my mother had divine blood in her. I'm sorry, I had no intention of lying, but I never knew her.”
All of which was entirely true. I don’t have a mother, therefore I couldn’t know if “she” had divine blood, and there was no reason to imply it was Father who was the source.
“Mother, huh? Do angelic mothers typically abandon their offspring?”
“I truly am sorry, but I do not know.” I kept my voice mostly calm, adding a slight shakiness to imply emotional stress instead of the irritation I felt at a cambion trying to act as though angels left behind nearly as many bastards as demons did. “My grandfather told me she was deceased and I have no reason to doubt his words.”
“Even though he didn’t tell you about the angel thing, as you claim?”
“Yes, because I trust the man who raised me. I don’t like to be suspicious of my family. I am sure you can understand–”
“Why would I?! Are you trying to say my family is suspicious?! That I’m not loyal!?” It was a misstep, annoying as it was. The cambion was looking for any excuse to get angry and lycans were known for their familial loyalty. The likelihood of him attempting to ruin my attempts at obtaining employment was unacceptably high, so I made some adjustments to my approach, first faking contrition.
“My apologies. I'm sure my grandfather had his reasons for not telling me, but I'm sure he thought he was doing his best. Even so, even if I am a nephilim what does that change?"
"I'm sure even you should see how suspicious it seems for a nephilim to suddenly appear in the Dark Lands, wishing for a job in Capitalia. Especially so soon after a treaty was established." With another flare of his nostrils, he glared at her.
Then I presented confusion and concern. "Are you…accusing me of something?"
"What I'm saying is I see no reason to let you work at our capital."
And there I changed tactics. “Very well then. Where else may I work?”
The flicker of surprise in his eyes made the concession worth it. “Eh? What, are you giving up?”
I raised an eyebrow, affecting an expression of bewilderment. “No? I’m asking what you would suggest then, if I can’t work in the capital. You are trying to say that I can’t work in the capital, right? Because of your suspicions?”
“That’s...yeah, that’s right. You have to admit, your story is too convenient–”
“Yes, we did go over that, along with your issues with my parentage, how my grandfather is a horrible liar who has deeply betrayed my trust, and also how I either have to be an idiotic rube who doesn’t even know her family’s lineage or a malicious infiltrator here to destroy your way of life.” I tilted their head and smiled with full provocation. “So, Sir Saksi? Can I get a job or what?”
He bristled, his scowl turning to a snarl as the heat in the room rose dramatically. Not as bad as when Michael gets angry, but I would have been annoyed if he singed my clothes.
But before the cambion could launch into the tirade he was clearly building to, his hackles rising and his growl sounding through the room, we were interrupted by, well...It’s better to write it out fully, beginning with the first proclamation of the Demon Lord’s General.
“INDEED YOU CAN!” All the heat that had built vanished as the door was kicked in and a new man walked in. Not a bad looking one either. His dark-brown hair and beard were both clearly well-groomed, and he wore a nobleman’s finery with a great deal of rubies and ruffles, though he was also probably the most blatant and obvious vampire I had seen in centuries. “For you see, young miss Viswan, you have struck upon a most fortunate opportunity! The opportunity of a lifetime, one might say, if they lived only one lifetime! Gohahahahaha!”
As the mad vampire burst into laughter, I took a moment to glance at Saksi. The hellhound had his head in his hands and was refusing to look at either of us, apparently wracked with secondhand embarrassment. Living with Michael and Uriel, I could sympathize; I didn’t though, because sympathizing with the enemy was a bad thing.
I waited for the vampire to stop laughing. It took a while.
Once he was done, he looked at me expectantly, so I elected to reply to the obvious lunatic. “Hello, good sir. May I ask who you might be?”
“Indeed you may!”
My estimation of him dropped by the second. “Who are, good sir?”
“You have the honorable honor of addressing the esteemed and estimable Count Jonathan Terry Bleaksky, my dear young lady! And it is with great pleasure that I do so offer to solve every last one of your troubles, for you see, I am a general of the good Empress Valondrac! And thus, I do so choose to guarantee you, oh poor victim of the Dark Lands’ petty prejudice, a fantastic job serving the Empress directly!” he explained with a great many grand, sweeping gestures, before he waved his hand somewhat carelessly as he walked behind Saksi’s desk so I didn’t have to keep craning my head to watch him, “In a sense, of a sort, in the sense that you’ll be able to work not merely within the capital, but in the castle itself! Castle Valondrac, that is, the well-named castle of our dear Empress Valondrac!”
“Not that I do not appreciate your most gracious offer–”
“Good! It’s very appreciable!”
“–but why are you making it? I–”
“Well isn’t it obvious my dear? I couldn’t help but overhear your horrid conversation with this irresponsible and prejudiced interviewer, and thus it fell upon me to correct this terrible crime and salvage the reputation of our good nation!” His beaming smile twitched into a smirk. “That, and I did find it delightful when you dropped the good girl schtick and sassed him back.”
I did recognize the name “Count Jonathan Terry Bleaksky”. I recognized it immediately, and did not at all have to wrack my brain attempting to remember those extremely long reports Gabriel had us read through regarding the major events of the Demon Lord Valondrac’s aborted invasion. He was the only general to actually successfully steal a dungeon core, which proves that either the mortal heroes are exceptionally bad at their jobs or that he was a far greater threat than his bearing would suggest. Possibly both.
Regardless, it was best that I try to arrange the situation differently at this time, and so another switching of tactics was in order.
“While I do appreciate your very kind offer, Lord Bleaksky, and while I don’t enjoy having someone be suspicious of me, I do have to admit to understanding Sir Saksi’s point of view,” I conceded, deliberately ignoring the odd look the cambionic interviewer was giving me as I prepared to lie as best I could, “It is a little strange for someone with my background to suddenly appear in the Dark Lands, asking for a job at the capital. I didn’t know I was a nephilim, but I can see why it would upset someone. Angels and demons naturally oppose each other, right?”
“Oh tish posh, it’s not like we haven’t had nephilim around in the Dark Lands before. Why, five hundred years ago, there were tons of them, largely because of all the wild sex those heat angels were having.”
I debated including that portion in my notes. I am committed to recording the exact conversation, even if certain parts are clearly inappropriate. I, of course, reacted with the utmost propriety and did not get embarrassed at all.
“Pardon?” was my response, because there were few decent responses to his words.
“Well they’re called ‘heat’ angels for a reason, right? But I digress, parentage is no reason to dismiss a person from a position! And if you do so truly wish to head to the capital–why do you want to go to the capital, by the by?”
His mind clearly worked in strange ways, so I took a pause to ensure my thoughts were all in order and not distracted by his implications.
Note: Investigate as to whether or not there actually are angels in the Dark Lands. I haven’t heard of such a thing before. Investigate if there are nephilim Do further research.
I kept my composure completely and continued, stating that I believe entering the Dark Lands to be a good opportunity, and that, since the Dark Lands were “open and peaceful”, it would be a good life experience to enter them and obtain employment in a market few lightlanders are yet entering.
“Oh I don’t know about that, we’ve had plenty of overtures from those delightful Ebkaians. Though I suppose they don’t entirely count? Or do they? What do you think? No, no, let’s not get off topic, let’s return to the topic of your new job and when you’ll be starting.” He flicked a card into my lap. “That contains the details of where and when and how to go to the capital, where and when to arrive at to enter the castle, and who to speak to when you do get the job, and if you can’t read Common Doklan, do your best to study up on the language, yes? Yes, good, and not to worry, you have plenty of time to make up your mind on when you’ll be working for us.”
It was at this point that I realized the goblin had deliberately provided me with papers in a language I could actually read. I was also somewhat baffled because we were all speaking Common so how could the written language be so different???
I did recognize one word as maybe meaning boat, so I elected to thank the general for the opportunity.
“You’re very welcome! Be sure to gather your things, and be prompt with your arrival! So long as you can actually figure out where to go but I’m sure you’re a clever woman who can come up with something. Ta ta now!”
I asked if we were actually done, because I was somewhat confused. Not caught off guard and flustered.
“Yes yes, now shoo, I have things I need to be doing, important things involving our naughty interviewer here.” Then Bleaksky sat in Saksi’s lap, crossing one leg over the other and smirking in a far too playful manner. “Have a good rest of the day now~”
It was at that point that I thanked Bleaksky and Saksi for their time, with complete control of composure, and elected to leave the room.
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Saksi watched the blushing nephilim scurry out of the room, then huffed once the door was hastily slammed shut. “General Bleaksky doesn’t say ‘schtick’.”
“Ha! Oh really now, my cute Saksi? That’s the part that you get hung up on~? Not my lurid implications of heated angels?” The flirtatious yet smug smirk looked immensely out of place on the general’s face. “And here I thought I was keeping to his character perfectly~”
“Sure. ‘Tish posh’?”
“Okay so I had a little fun with it~ Can you blame me? Johnny is just so dramatic, I couldn’t help playing things up~” General Hachibi purred, still leaning back against him and being far too wiggly for his liking. In a fading of mist, General Bleaksky’s bearded face melted away to show General Hachibi Kiyoshi’s natural vulpine smirk as her orange hair spilled freely over her shoulders. “Besides, it’s not like our new nephi is going to know what he’s like.”
“Up until she meets him at the castle.”
“Mm, maybe, maybe not? Our dear Admiral has been busy handling our coastal issues instead, rooted out some leviathans trying to infiltrate, all that.”
Saksi paused. “Leviathans? Why do we have leviathans trying to–”
“Some religious tiff, we’re looking into it, need-to-know basis, buuuuut, I can share that there’s some ridiculous prophet touting herself as the voice of Fathom, that sort of thing.”
“...And it’s ‘need to know’ in case the followers of the Ancient Ocean decide to join up with her?”
Hachibi giggled, turning in his lap until she straddled him, now looming over the interviewer. “I wouldn’t say that’s our chief worry, Saksi~ We just want to keep out any nasty saboteurs trying to drag our lovely empire down into the depths with them~”
“But a spy from the Light Lands is fine?”
“Of course she is~! We always need new cuties working at the palace~” She giggled again, then smirked, baring a hint of her sharp teeth in a way that made his instincts bristle and his ears flatten against his head. “Besides, haven’t you ever heard the old adage of keeping your enemies close? Yes? Well forget it, it’s a stupid one, because you don’t keep your dangerous enemies close at all. You keep the planners close, the clever ones who think they’re very, very smart and want to outmaneuver you. The ones who get so wrapped up in their own games of intellect that they work a hundred steps ahead and don’t notice they walked right off a cliff.
“Those ones are the types you can use, because they think they’re so very clever that they start to miss the signs that they’re giving things away. Not only that, but she’s a lightlander. As dangerous as their heroes can be, those lightful types are just too straightforward, not as gritty or edgy as we darklanders can be. As clever as she’s trying to be, I doubt ‘Rayfa’ there is aiming to hurt anyone, whereas the leviathans most definitely have.”
Saksi allowed himself a frown. Despite his position compared to hers, he still felt the need to share his misgivings. “Do you know that for a fact, general? This woman could be a master of deception. She could very well be far older and more dangerous than she pretends.”
She quirked an eyebrow. “Why do you think I came in here myself, hm? I wanted to get a good grasp of her character, and she most definitely feels far more impulsive and naive than she’s willing to admit to anyone, perhaps even herself~ She certainly has a mind for fairness and I’m thinking she has a good heart, but we’ll have to see more of how she acts to know for certain, and for now, she feels like a safe enough bet for the spy we let into our midst.”
“Mh. I’d still prefer we send her back.”
“Oh I know, I can tell, you’re really obvious about it. I just don’t care, but since I do think you deserve a little consolation, I’ll just say it’s far better to have one spy in our midst that we know about and can feed false information to than to risk whichever country she’s working for–betting she’s lying about it being Tramontava, at the very least–sending a dozen more we have to stretch ourselves to discover.”
"Hm… I can see the merit in that. Though if I may say one thing. Can you please get off my lap?" If he were a weaker hellhound, Saksi would have let out a laugh seeing Kiyoshi's complete air of confidence leave as she gave an overly dramatic pout.
"Fine fine. I suppose I've teased you enough." And then she was sitting on his desk instead. “Any more questions, or have your worries be laid to rest?”
“Just one more, if I might.” At her smirking nod, he continued. “What if she figures out what you’re doing?”
“Oh I’m sure she already has, now that she’s had a moment to think about it. But this is such an easy route to getting what she wants, and she’s such a clever girl, she’s bound to think she can work around the fact that I know she’s a spy because she knows that I know, but what she doesn’t know is that I know that she knows that I know, you know~?”
Saksi’s head hurt. “...Ah...yeah. Alright.” Spies were weird.
“Good to know I’ve soothed your worries~ And now that we’re alone, perhaps I could soothe–”
“Not on the clock.”
“Of course not, I was thinking on the desk here~”
Saksi sighed at his superior’s pervy giggle. She’d back off at a firm no, but General Hachibi was...very distracting at the best of times, and his blood was already up and agitated from having to deal with that nephilim. So, with all that in mind, and with her still smirking down at him...
“Just get off my desk already.”
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I, of course, heard all of the conversation between General Hachibi and Saksi the interviewer. How, you might wonder? Through the tried and true tactic of not actually leaving and just waiting by the door to eavesdrop.
Elven ears are fantastic for listening in on conversations, and the overconfident darklanders didn’t even bother to take precautions against such a thing, so my information gathering went fantastically, and so I know that they know that I was spy, but they don’t know that I know that they know, and thus my advantage is secured! As is my way into Valondrac’s castle, once I fully decipher the strange written language of the darklanders.
Note: Maybe just ask a darklander what it says. Do darklanders have high literacy? Maybe something to check.
As such, I requested to the clerk, the goblin that I had met earlier, to direct me to the nearest library, so I might begin learning their language. I also asked him to direct me to the nearest inn, as I am attempting to pose as a mortal and mortals need things like places to sleep and a trail to show where they have gone to alleviate suspicion. Also, there were still holiday festivities ongoing, and it was prudent, as Gabriel would certainly say, to experience the foreign culture more thoroughly.
At the moment, I sit in my room at said inn, recounting my experiences to my journal. So now that the past has caught up to the present, I feel it best to leave off my entry for today with a positive feeling of satisfaction, as my first day in the Dark Lands has been a complete success–
I could have asked the goblin to translate the note.