Amun.
***
“Ugh.” The umbral form of my ancestor's hands- Henry Cole, lifted his ghostly hat to swipe his spectral hand over his incorporeal hair. “I never knew my head could hurt in death.”
“Let's start from the bottom, shall we?” Telman Cole, father to the Necro King and son to the great pirate captain, swept his slender hands across my underworld in a suggestive manner, turning to and fro my other ancestors before his long-dead eyes fell on me. “You are a monk following the Way to Death’s Door?”
“Yes,” I confirmed for not the first time from atop my necrotic throne. “If I understand things correctly, my necrotic Ki is inversely proportional to my health. The closer I come to dying, the stronger my Ki will be, keeping me at death’s door when I should have stepped through.”
“Cole was said to be a monk,” Corvus muttered. More to herself than to me, it seemed. “The Way of Void.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“In his day, he was called the Mad Void Monk.” She turned her gaze to me and paused, leaving the rest of her words unsaid for us to ponder. At least until Telman broke the silence.
“And you are a… Grandmaster Artificer?” Telman asked.
“At the seventh step.”I nodded. “Grandmaster Alchemist. My next few… tasks are to learn the art of enchanting before I scour the realms for evidence of runes.”
“The language of time immemorial.” Telman explicated immediately. “From a time long before the portals. Before even the dragons and giants warred, some believe. When gods and our first ancestor, Zefroth roamed the Mortal Plane. According to my son, the evidence you seek is somewhere in Betrarth.”
“Such direction is as aimless as he is.” Corvus snorted. “But the Path of Zefroth? That intrigues me. This, I presume, has been the object of your dream. Do they continue?”
“I assume so as well, and yes.” I nodded again. “Every day. The path tasks me with learning how to live as a devil, creating warlocks, and learning about our history. And eventually, connecting with our ancestors.”
“As only you could. A being of the Void, you are.” She cryptically assured me before her eyes darted swiftly to my wrists. “There is your other class, however. Rogue Devil. Soul Mastermind. It appears you received what you asked for." She smiled cutely. "Your specialty is now deals and curses.”
“And being a rogue will be easy for you. There’s two of you after all!” Azrael, my grandfather and the creator of the first spell I ever learned, knowingly winked.
I gave him a wink back. Noticed by Henry alone. “Are you to be a pirate?” He smiled wickedly.
“Not me, but one of my subordinates is forming a fleet as we speak. Although.” I chortled dryly. “His ship may be overkill.”
“Overkill is the best kill.” He smiled wider. “More meat for the grinder, as they say! Or, maybe it does matter.” His smile suddenly flattened. “You’re all… holy now." Darkblood's hands waved dramatically. "It’s weird."
“You didn’t believe me before?”
“Seeing is believing.” He shrugged. “And then… you know, there are evil deities.”
“Touche.” I heartily laughed.
“Moonlight and Twilight, I’ve come to understand.” Telman scratched his great beard. “But… Mana? You are the God of Mana?”
“Yes. And I’ll eventually be able to give or take mana away from people, places, or things; not to mention affinity cores. On top of that, I’m the God of Engineering. Merging magic and science to create things like this.”
“Wow!” Henry whistled low in response to the dozens of silver screens floating about them, showing them videos of the Moonsliver and the other, much smaller vehicles owned by the Captains. “That is overkill.”
“Perhaps.” I shrugged. “But the seas are a part of my Moonlight; and with exploration also being within my divine profile, I intend to have my fleets explore all of the World Seas.
“So, Captain Darkblood.” I turned the youngest of my fanged ancestors. “Tell me all about a pirate’s life.”
---
After a quite lengthy conversation, I stepped out of my necrotic world and emerged in a land not unlike it. The skies above me were plain and featureless. But blue instead of black, with a blazing orb positioned low enough in the sky to cast eerie shapes from the dense field of flowers and trees- a one-hundred-shaded web of verdant greens hidden beneath white pillows, rather than the endless shades of gray I saw below.
There was a chill in the air, biting distantly at my skin. They were birthed from the gelid winds that traveled undisturbed over the Nonus-Betrarth World Sea until they barreled into the Jovian-sized bay that housed the Bodhi Peninsula. Being kilometers lower than the tree and the wilds it accompanied, those winds rolled over the southern lands almost indefinitely, halted only by the arid gusts that periodically came in from Nonus to the far west. Thus the southern end of the Bodhi Peninsula was on the cusp of winter. Yet, as I gazed across Crater Lake from these eroded shores, I saw a sheet of ice in the far distance, broken apart by the eroded edge of the crater peering out above the everlasting white.
Winter was here, brought on by an unnatural occurrence in the outskirts of Crater Lake, where, in a place called Shujen Bay, a Death Jarl saw fit to form his lair. Which was fine. I pointed him there after noticing some things, after all. Yet, it inadvertently made my current task all the more difficult.
My curiosity- and impatience- got to me. After finishing my alchemical endeavor and smelling the roses between the borders of Mazi and Nevstan, I found myself unable to wait to move further down the rogue path. For it was then that I’d be able to summon my closest devilkin. That said, I had a scroll from the Shadeforge stronghold Though I was guaranteed to gain a 'familiar' further down the rogue path, I simply couldn’t wait that long. More so, the booty I received from that raid had yet to be utilized.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Besides the golem summoning talismans and the enchanted items, my interest lay with the fiend-summoning tome. It had the true name of one such entity. And, though it said not whether it was a demon or devil, I felt as if an introduction was long overdue. So, with a fairly large diamond in hand, I scoured the coast in search of a break from the winds pouring away from Zaraxus' lair.
I found it after not too much meandering. Some thickets that’d been hollowed out by some creature and subsequently abandoned, leaving a thorny shell just tall enough for me to stand in. More importantly, it was just wide enough for me to carve an intricate circle of sigils into the dirt and to stand at the entrance after placing the diamond at the center. Then, I started chanting. Singing in a guttural and nefarious language while the diamond raised and glowed with the light of blackened blood until it widened, forming a wide portal that gave views of a fiery realm, wherein I called. “Lily!”
A heeled foot stepped out at once. Attached to a leg with rich tan skin, naked and smooth until the wide hips met a leotard-covered waist, and out swung a bulging bust suffocated in tight leathers. Then came the other leg, followed by a set of clawed, almost leathery hands that grasped the edge of the gate and gracefully pulled to reveal a stunningly alluring woman with crimson red hair, hiding a set of plump lips, peeled back into a smile while her piercing eyes sized me up and down. And then she approached under the gust of bat-like wings, her pointed tail swaying lazily behind her until she stopped close enough for her ram-like horns to nearly brush against me as she unnervingly took a whiff of me.
“Mhmm.” She tantalizingly licked her lips. “Fancy being called by a God!”
“Fancy a gray dwarf king holding the true name of a succubus.” I heartily snorted.
“Oh! King Maso?” She bounced forward. Then reclined back suddenly with airy eyes. “Yeah. He was a good one to keep alive. Loved pain.”
“Oh?” I smiled at my shadow and the bashful response of the gray dwarf king hiding within.
“What about you, though?” Lily brushed against me entirely and started not-so-subtly shifting her weight between her feet. “Up for a little fun? Or would you let a gal like me tag along on your little adventure? I’d love to say I’ve been with the Rogue God of Devils. Everyone’s been talkin’ about you.”
“Maybe later.” I brushed away her whispers immediately. Though I had full intentions to let her tag along. Not as a part of my squad, of course, but somewhere within my Legion. After all, succubi had ways of gathering information like no one else.
That said, she was annoying as fuck.
“Well?” She brushed against me a second time.
“Sure.” I groaned. “You can tag along."
“Sweet!” She beamed in place, only to instantly sober up and look around to see the dome of thorns. “So, we’re in Paradise? Where?”
“Nonus. The southern half of the Bodhi Peninsula, on the northern coast.” I explained while leading her to the beach and then faced about. “The land continues for some fifteen thousand kilometers to the south and is ruled by twelve kingdoms. Approximately seventy-seven million souls call this place home. And for the next year, it’s our playground.”
The prospect made her fly a loop overhead, screaming “Lucky me!”
“Yes. Lucky you.” I rolled my eyes. “Now sit here with me. Are you hungry?”
“Ooh, a romantic?” She plopped down with a giggle.
I rolled my eyes again. “Hardly. I’m hungry, and we’re waiting for someone to arrive.”
“Who-”
I sensed it long before she spun to the west. But, considering it hardly a threat, I let it pass until the human pushed through the brush and immediately threw his fishing pole onto the ground.
“Ah! Fiends!” He shouted. And I just couldn’t help myself.
“Ah! Human!” I cried as I spun about to eye a not-so-harmless young man with feigned fear.
He brandished a short sword and waved it threateningly between us, shouting. “Stay back!”
“Don’t be stupid.” I snorted. “I haven’t even moved.”
“No, no.” Lily waved to me. “I've got this.”
Shrugging, I turned away to watch the coast as the sun, to my back, dipped to its nightly hiding place. The newfound silence was like rewatching a show as an adult that you’ve seen as a child, making me dread her inevitable return and be thankful that her action served to make her less… excitable.
“Is he dead?” I asked over my shoulder.
“No.” I heard her shrug. “But he will be soon. Poor guy. Didn’t even last long.”
“Nice.”
I rose without another word. And when I returned, I had a fresh shadow undead soldier trailing behind me.
“Liam Stone works for you now,” I said to them both, then turned a cold gaze to the succubus. “And you, Lily, work for me.”
She eagerly and somewhat lethargically nodded her compliance.
“I’ll tell you about your job later. For now, just… enjoy the sights I guess.”
Again, she nodded her compliance. But my attention was on the two pinpoints of light in the sky. One, a streak of silver, and the other, a pulsing bowl of mana.
Watching Hogaz and his quartermaster fly into shore was one of the few moments I found myself bursting with pride. And from what I could see, they were as well. Even in the gloom of dusk, his moon mail armor sparkled brilliantly beneath his Noctis cloak. In a rare instance, Hogaz removed his palm from its comfortable position on the hilt of his weapon, the Wave Razer, to greet me in typical Noctis fashion- leading to a moment of confusion between Lily and the quartermaster.
“Another cutie.” The former giggled.
I turned to glare at her immediately. “I will fucking void you if you suck a drop from my subordinates.”
She took the warning almost in a panic, flapping her wings to push her several meters away and in turn, giving me and the pirates a bit of privacy.
“Vexx. Captain… Silvertusk.” I fought back a laugh while nodding to them both. “How do you fancy the ship?”
Hogaz gave her a subtle nod, then she stepped forward with an expression full of enough zeal to scare even me. “With confidence, I can say I speak for the entirety of the crew when I tell you the ship is beyond belief or comparison. Even the dwarves are impressed with the hardiness of its construction. I am surely impressed with its elegance. Its speed. Its power! I daresay, we are invincible on these waters.”
“Not so.” I flatly said. Then recanted with a shrug a few seconds later. “Well, the ship is. But with its current crew, it is not. As such, Captain, I’m giving you and your crew between six months and one year to train.” I paused for consideration, then gestured to the copper-skinned half-elf before I continued. “Obviously, you have a say in this as well.”
Being a seasoned pirate- and a classmate of my dad, apparently- Vexx didn’t hesitate to address our concerns. “I share the same thought. However, the other pirates in these waters will seek us out once they learn of our abandoned island. They may be intimidated by our ship, and rightly so, but some foolhardy pirates will fire upon us without thinking. I’m afraid we have neither the time nor real estate to train.”
I left it to her Commander to explain.
“We work for the Eternal God, Vex. Time is meaningless to the Legions.”
“What he means to say is, you’ll be training in a realm of distorted time. Whether it's six months or one year you spend inside, only one day will have passed when you emerge. You will then take your leave to enjoy Sinestro’s concert before setting off on your journey around the peninsula.”
“H- how?” Lily and Vexx both stammered.
“Whatever you decide, training begins upon your return to the ship,” I said to Hogaz before turning to the still wide-mouthed Lily. “And after the concert, you'll remain in Chor to open a brothel.
“Now, let’s go.” I turned, spawning a small globule of purple energy above us all, plucking us from the ground simultaneously. “It's almost time for Gloom to fall.”