Crossroads
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Magsnik gazed out the window of his room and watched the eddies of unreality wash over the fungal forest beyond the borders of the barrier protecting his home. Like a soap bubble, it stretched over his farm, standing firm against the tides of the Warp itself while allowing him to peer into it without much problem. He could see the forest ablaze with green fire as it staved off the tide but, aside from that, there was not a thing of note happening nearby.
He had expected his home to be beset by a horde of screaming maws and scratching claws baying for the soul of any mortal that dared enter the realm of Chaos, yet there were none; the barrier remaining as still as the surface of an untouched pond. It was strangely peaceful to see the warp in such a state, so calm and clear enough that he could see the other realms of it floating by, ever so close yet deceptively distant. It would have been a perfect day to brew some tea and just sit by the porch if not for the state he was in.
He felt his brow twitch as he laid down on bed, chained by his overly eager maids while being dotted on by an all too smug Khornate, “Say ahhh,~” Justice teased him as she held a spoonful of Squig soup; its scent reminding him so much of chicken soup. He was touched by their concern for the burning aura that now engulfed him, but this was getting ridiculous.
“If you make airplane noises, I swear I’ll break out of these chains and strangle you with them,” He warned her as he struggled against his bonds, a feat easier said than done given how the chains looked more in place in the mooring of ships.
“As if I’d ever do that,” The Khornite scoffed, offended by his accusations before her frown turned into a grin as she added, “Besides, trains are far superior. Now, open wide for the Iron Horse!”
He groaned out in annoyance as he felt the warm spoon poking his cheeks while he’s forced to hear the girl's infuriating chugging. Reluctantly, he opened his mouth and accepted the offered morsel, more coming soon after. He suffered through the indignation, unable to resist as he was cocooned by the adamantine chains from the neck down. He would have escaped earlier if not for Emmy and Molly frantically checking on him.
“H-his temperature is off the charts! What should we do!” Emmy stuttered out as she pressed her hands against his forehead.
“Don’t panic Emmy, just follow the procedures!” Molly reminded her as she whizzed around the room, frantically tending to everything and anything she could get her hands on. She even dragged one of his portable stoves and placed it near the window, so the room didn’t fill up with smoke, as she tended to the slowly simmering pot of delicious soup.
“Girls, relax, I’m fine. I’m not going to keel over anytime soon. I can handle this,” He told them calmly and flashed them a confident grin. Aside from his burning soul, he felt nothing off about his body. He could not even feel the flame as it flared up erratically and sputtered in the unseen wind. If it was truly his soul then maybe it was just a temporary effect. He was getting stronger everyday and if it wasn’t for his hulk taking a dip in the warp he wouldn’t have known about this.
“I’m not sure Mags, this looks bad, like really bad. Not even princess over there can make heads or tails of what’s happening with your soul bits,” Justice replied as she gestured at the back of the murmuring and huddled figure of Beel before she sighed and set the bowl aside. She kept her eyes uncovered as she set her gaze at him, watching the flames flickering over his body, “The last time I’ve seen something like this is when pa got a little angry with Skarbrand. Little shit didn’t come out right after that…”
“I’m fine, seriously. Just watch,” Magnsik assured her even as a hint of unease slipped into his tone. Being compared to a demon who was thrown across the warp was concerning, yet as he started flexing the sound of the chains creaking making his girls squeak out in panic, he felt a bit more at ease. The chains stretched before stopping just as he’d loosened them enough that he could finally move again, ”See? As healthy as a horse.”
“Hey, I could be wrong here. I’m not really an expert on the healing arts you see, more of the choppy type,” Justice replied as she raised her hands in surrender, “But seriously dude, take it easy. I know you’re a warrior at heart and you don’t want to look weak but you’re crossing the fine line between grit and idiocy.”
He grumbled a bit before he relented, sighing as he shifted on his rough straw filled mattress. “Fine, but can you atleast loosen the chains? I swear I’m starting to get bed rash after laying here for nearly a day now,” he complained as he squirmed against his bonds.
Justice laughed at his expense as she and the girls started to unchain him, much to his relief. Turning to Beel once more, the Khornite then shouted, “Oy Beel! Stop taking your sweet ass time and get that friend of yours over already.”
Beel just nodded and hummed in acknowledgement, not bothering to even gaze up, as she worked on a rather complex seal using nothing more than the blood of a freshly killed squig. With the carcass on hand, she traced a dizzying fractal array that pulled in his gaze. He had to actively tear his eyes away as he soon started tasting purple, “Just a few more touches- and there!” She then said as the last drop of blood dripped down to the circle.
“You’ll have to excuse Hecate, she just got carried away when she made her calling card,” Beel apologized as she tossed the freshly prepared Squig into the circle before it lit up a baleful blue. Shielding his eyes as the light intensified, he watched as the claws of ravens reached out and pulled the offering in. As the squig was swallowed up a hole opened up in the island of reality they stood in before the large and imposing raven-like figure of a Lord, or rather Lady, of Change stepped out, the portal closing behind her.
He couldn’t miss the avian giant's chest, a fact that she didn’t fail to miss as she flashed him a knowing smirk. Turning her attention to the Nurglite, she then smiled and spread her winged arms before bowing lowly to the other daemon, “Princess Beelzebub, it’s been quite some time.”
As soon as she got up, the Tzeentchian daemon would find herself enveloped in a tight hug from the tinier woman, “Hecate! It’s so good to see and I told you, it’s just Beel. We’re friends, remember?” Beel greeted her, nuzzling up against the woman’s feathery bosom.
“You are far too nonchalant about your station, dear, but how can I say no to such an order,” Hecate replied with a soft chuckle, making Beel roll her eyes in turn.
Beel then turned her attention back to them as she introduced their latest guest, “Ok everyone, I’d like you to meet Hecate, Guardian of the Library of Babel and my Bestie!” He and Justice gave her a nod while his two maids gave her a proper curtsy before greeting her.
He felt her eyes scan them, gazing at them appraisingly as she then said, “My my, what a lovely little family you have here. You even have yourself some Maids of Iron. I haven’t seen them since the Collapse, and what history they have,” He frowned a bit as her two girls cowered at the woman's gaze but Beel was quick to scold them.
“Now Hecate, don’t be rude and they’re not really mine. They’re Magnsiks!” She corrected her companion as she gave them a stern gaze.
“My apologies. I’m just rather excited to see your new home. It’s not so long ago that you were forced into exile, and to think that you’d so quickly find someone to stay with, and what a man he is,~” The avian woman crooned while batting her eyes at him, making him groan in frustration; of course Beel’s friend would be just as horny as she was, “When you told me you found yourself a young strapping man, I didn’t expect him to be so big. It’s always the silent one that are the naughtiest.~”
Justice snickered as she poked his sides with her elbows, “You can certainly join us if you want,” The Khornite replied, suggesting earning her a chop on the top of her head from him.
“Hecate! Justice!” Beel hissed out, her cheeks turning red from the teasing both of them were getting.
“To think that a Krork would capture your hea-!” Hecate tried to speak up but Beel had enough as she climb up the woman’s neck and wrapped her arms around it, choking the taller women who sputtered and wheezed from the pressure the Nurglite was applying,
“Keep talking and I swear I’ll choke you with your own tongue, got it~?” Beel warned Hecate who nodded hastily.
The woman gasped out, rubbing her throat, as Beel unlatched herself from her, “My lips are sealed until that special day,” She promised Beel before turning her gaze back at them, clapping her hands to get them attention. Now, how about we get down to business? You wouldn’t have called in several favors if things aren’t so dire, hmm? His condition is certainly a peculiar one but do not fret for the doctor is in the house,” She noted as she started pulling out some books from thin air.
While he did have apprehensions about her, Beel trusted her. With Beel out of depth with his condition, he was forced to rely on a doctor of all things. He at least hoped she was a doctor, “Are you sure you have a medical license?” Molly questioned her, her eyes narrowed as she glared at the Avian woman.
“Oh yes, but Tzeentch had me disbarred after several incidents. Oopsie!” She answered casually and without a hint of jesting before she laughed out and he chuckled with her, sending worried glances at Beel who simply sighed as pinched the bridge of her nose, “Just kidding, or am I~? Ow! Spoilsport…” Her joke was quickly rewarded with a bop on the head by an irate Beel. This was going to be a long day, wasn’t it?
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After sending Emmy and Molly out to do some chores and some farm work he could not do, as well as avoid them coming to blows with the good doctor, he’d find that she could be quite serious when she wanted to be. With Justice keeping guard at the door, he felt Hecate pull at the flames without so much causing a bit of discomfort and observing the flames sputter out even as she poured her energy into it.
“So, how is it? I can’t find any disease on him that my father cooked up. I have nothing to eat and I’m at my wits end here,” Beel asked her as she dragged her stool and scooted a bit closer.
“Hmmm… this is not good. Not good at all,” The woman muttered out as she glared at the flames which kept dying in her grasp. Shaking her head, she plopped down on a seat and waved her hands in the air. Her feathery fingers grasping at the magic flowing in the very air around them, caressing it like the hands of a musician as she weaved a translucent projection of his very body.
Pointing at the image and calling their attention to the green circle where his heart should be, she then started to explain, “It’s not a disease as you suspected, but a curse, a burning fire that eats away at his soul. Only his species' prodigious regeneration and tenacity has allowed him to stave off the effects, but that can only take him so far. Eventually, his soul will not be able to handle its own weight as it’s hollowed out from the inside and-”
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Beel quickly cut her off, grabbing her by the shoulder before telling her, “In Low Gothic Hecate.”
With a snap of her finger, a fire starts to burn inside his image. His form looked fine, and even getting better, until the fire hollowed it out and he collapsed into himself; leaving a grunting and dull eyed figure behind. Locking eyes with her, he swallowed as she gave him a simple yet dreadful prognosis, “He would simply heal himself until he couldn’t and, at that point, his mind would simply cease to be as his soul is extinguished.”
He felt a heavy weight settle in his stomach at the grim news while the world around him started to spin. He tried to speak up but words failed him as he sank into his bed, dread filling his veins as a reminder of his mortality came slapping him in the face. The only comfort he had was Beel who held on to his hands as the good doctor continued, “Normally, such a burning affliction would start from the outside as most curses are foreign in nature but this one, this one comes from a part of your soul, a part that you’ve utterly rejected. I suspect you attempted to renege on a deal or obligation from the twins, but that did not turn out as planned did it?”
The dread that filled him was soon replaced with anger as he growled out, asking her, “Those fuckers huh? I should have known they’d pull something. I simply wanted to retire! I’ve forged them an empire that can last without me, what more could they want!?”
He was done, he was through. He was tired of the endless war and he made it known to the whole galaxy. He had made his exit from the galactic stage and called it quits yet the two still went after him. He knew that they had their right to be angry, but he was still pissed off that they chose to pursue him.
“Rejecting the gods often leads to consequences for those who are ill prepared,” Hecate reminded him to which he could only grit his teeth. The gods of this universe were cruel and unforgiving.
“Is there anything we can do about it? There must be something in your library right?” Beel asked hopefully.
Hecate smirked as she replied smugly, “Do you have to ask? I always have something up my sleeves, dear. Luckily for you, you have four avenues to choose from, five if you consider just having it run its course, but you’re not one to simply keel over, are you?”
“Do I look like someone that would simply give up on living? Who’d take care of Beel if I’m gone?” He joked, making Beel blush in turn.
“Confident.~ That’ll serve you well, because I’m not sure how much time you have left. It could be centuries or maybe just a year, the matters of the soul can be quite confounding after all. Do not worry, however, as your end wouldn’t be so dramatic for it to be sudden. You’d feel it approaching well before it started, so you have plenty of time to think,” She then said, giving him the bad news.
He grunted, as he mulled on his options. As much as he hated his situation, nothing would be done if he just stayed angry. He had to do something and if it meant he could spit upon the face of the two, the better it’ll be. Looking up at her, he then asked, “What do you have in mind?”
“Now, the first option would be the easiest and fastest of the four but it could be quite extreme. The easiest way to remove the curse is to go to its very source and cut it out, and for that you would need to take us in and allow us to sever the very thing that tethers you to the twins,” His eyes narrowed but he kept his apprehension to himself, holding back his judgment for now as he waited for her to finish her explanation.
The woman smiled as she reformed the image of his soul before creating 3 simplified figures representing her, Beel, and Justice, “I see that you’re skeptical but I assure you, it would be temporary. As you can see from my projection, I would open up your soul while I have Beel here eat away at the rotten parts before leaving and allowing it to heal on its own,” She started, showing her writing on his body before a doorway opened up in his chest where all three could enter. There, he’d watch them patch up his soul from the inside, extinguishing the fire that threatened to kill him from the inside.
Pointing over at the silent Justice, she then added, “I could also use your Khornate friend's talent and her terribly sharp blade to cut away at the burnt out parts, but that would only make the procedure faster so we can do without her. it'd be painful, but I assure you it has a 99% success rate if no one interferes with it.”
He sighed, rubbing his chin as he watched the projection end with his simplified form dancing and cheering with those close to him. It was quite the extreme procedure, involving Greater Daemons inside his literal soul, but then again his affliction affected the soul so he should have expected that.
“You would heal from the procedure on your own, though we could leave pieces of ourselves inside you to expedite the process, but mortals rarely take such options,” She then added, reassuring him recovery was possible. At least that was a silver lining to all this.
“As for the other procedures, the next one is more of a delay rather than a cure. There are artifacts of great power that I know of that could fuel your soul and keep you alive, but it would bind you to a single location and the burning would simply continue the moment you leave its confines,” She then said.
“I would have to pass on that one,” he replied, immediately vetoing that choice. It sounded way too close to the golden throne and he’d rather not be chair bound for all eternity. He had quite a lot of things he wanted to do, things that would require him to move and walk around.
Nodding, she then continued, “There’s also an option to kneel before one of the gods of the Warp but… I highly discourage such actions. As much as I respect my patron, they’re not one to be merciful. One of the many reasons why I pursued independence.”
He nodded gravely, agreeing with her. He didn’t even know if he could stomach serving the dark gods if was ever forced to do so. All four were twisted in their own ways and even with the help of Beel he doubted that he’d still remain himself at the end of it all, “How about the final option?” He then asked, wondering what else was in store for him.
“As for the final option, you can try your luck against the very gods that cursed you, but that’s easier said than done,” She answered. So it was either undergo her surgery, hook himself up to a life support system, kneel before a deity, or beat up the gods that cursed him in the first place. Damned if he did, damned if he didn’t, the dilemma he now faced was proving to be frustrating. He had time, yes, but the feeling of it ticking away worried him and the odds were stacked against him.
“So young Warboss, what shall it be? What option shall you take?” Hecate podded as he gritted his teeth and shook his head in dismay.
Gripping Beel’s hands tightly, he then turned to Hecate and Justice before asking them, “Can… you give us some time alone? Please?”
“Of course,” Hecate replied as she squeezed her way out of the room with Justice in tow. As the Khornate was about to leave, she turned and flashed him a cheery smile, “You’ll beat the odds, Magnsik! I know you will.”
As they closed the door behind them, he sagged against his bed and gazed up at the ceiling. Laying there, He wondered what else he could have done. His mind wandered what could have been if he’d taken another turn. To be honest with himself, he could have prepared better, but here he was… but in the end he realized there was nothing that he could have done to prepare himself for this.
“So this is it huh? Maybe this is the end of the road for the little old me. It's a shame I don't have any fish to be thankful for,” He said out loud with a self-deprecating smile on his face as he chuckled darkly at the situation he found himself in.
Out of all the choices that were presented to him, the only realistic one was the first option, but did he really know Beel well enough to trust her with that or was he just going to leave things up to chance and see where it went? Maybe he could weather this out, maybe it wasn’t the end, but he knew damn well that this was really it.
“Please don’t joke about that, Magnsik,” Beel whispered as he leaned against him, resting her head against his as they held hands, “There’s so much more you can do. You still haven’t finished that book of yours, and what about your farm? Dirt’s going to be bullied out of this place without you and what will happen to Molly and Emmy? You know they live for you now. What about Justice? What about me…” She reminded him, trailing off as she hugged him tightly.
“Sorry, that was in bad taste. I’m just trying to lighten the mood,” He apologized to her as he leaned back against him.
“It’s going to be alright Magsnik, you’ll get through this,” Beel whispered to him comfortingly as she gave his hands a comforting squeeze, “I’ll be with you every step of the way, so please don’t give up. I don’t want to lose you…”
He felt a soft smile sneak its way to his lips as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Even if he made a better escape plan, the twins would still have come after him for their pound of flesh. Maybe he would be all alone in another timeline, wasting away and not realizing that he was going to die until it was too late. If he didn’t take the chance, he wouldn’t have met Beel. At least this time around he had someone he could turn to instead of him being trapped in a world of nothing but violence.
With his time running shorter than he had anticipated he spoke up as he let out everything he had been bottling up in his chest for Beel to hear, “Beel, we've only been together for a few months. In those few months, I’ve seen you become my gluttonous, lazy tenant who somehow wormed her way into my home.”
“Hey, I’m not that bad… I do the dishes, sometimes…” Beel pouted as she looked away.
Chuckling, he continued, “At first you were a thorn in my side. You were always so horny and so hungry at the same time. I actually feared getting eaten at one point… but then I started to get to know you better. As the weeks passed by, I got to meet the daemon named Beelzebub and the more I got to know her.. the more I fell for her.”
Beel’s face now turned red as he felt her cheeks burning up, heat crawling down her neck as she started sputtering. Grinning, he quickly added, “I’ve seen how greedy you can be, but you can be gregarious as well. Your appetite is insatiable, but you choose not to consume without reason. You can be obsessed with something, yet you choose to temper yourself. You are much more than just an ordinary daemon or just your father’s daughter.
“I don’t claim that I fully know you, but I know that I can trust you. If there’s one Daemon I can turn to, I know it will be you,” Pausing, he then reached out to grasp both her hands. She gulped as he turned to her and their eyes locked, pools of dark red meeting dark green, before he decided on his fate, “Beelzebub, I need your help.”