Raj, Sapphire, Tili, and Dalia gathered around an examination table in the infirmary on EDEN’s first floor. Between them, they represented a huge portion of the continent’s knowledge of magic and the supernatural.
“If it’s really a divine beast awakening, can we save him at all?” Raj asked the group.
“I’ve never heard of a vessel surviving.” Dalia answered with a slight grimace. “We’re lucky enough to have halted the process when we did.”
“It could take years to unravel the spiritual threads binding them together, if it’s possible at all.” Tili’s small voice added sadly.
“Lady Tabula said she might know someone that can help, let’s trust her for now.” Sapphire offered, and the others seemed to take some comfort in that.
The group fell silent for a moment, and turned their attention to the door as it suddenly slid open. X’lyssa, the overfiend entered the room. Tabula walked in silently behind her, holding her now trademark grumpy horned kitten.
The four magic users gulped collectively. They didn’t feel threatened, but the physical pressure exuded by the pair was crushing. Before anyone could exchange greetings, X’lyssa suddenly crinkled her nose like she smelled something awful.
“Fen? I’d know your stink anywhere, you emaciated mutt. Don’t bother trying to hide from me.” She swaggered up to the unconscious child on the table and casually plunged her crimson colored hand into his abdomen as a chorus of gasps erupted from the others.
Everyone moved to intervene instinctively but stopped themselves, noticing there didn’t appear to be any injury. It was more like a ghost reaching through a wall.
X’lyssa rooted around the boy’s body like a plumber seeking a clog. Her face went through several expressions before settling into a wide grin.
“Gotcha!” She began to pull her arm out slowly. Whatever she had hold of was fighting her mightily.
Gore slick matted grey fur was clutched tightly in her emerging hand as the boy’s belly distended and warped. The lighting in the room flickered as yet another monstrous presence filled the space. The creature broke free of the child’s body then, and the perfectly circular hole closed behind it, leaving not a scratch on the boy’s pale abdomen.
X’lyssa held the nearly skeletal wolf cub by the scruff as it mindlessly snapped its jaws and snarled. It was no bigger than a ten week old puppy.
“He wasn’t done cooking.” She adjusted her voice to sound deeper and more dramatic as she held up the furiously snarling cub. “Behold Fenrir! Packlord of Famine, The Gnawing Shadow, The Ravening Nightmare...” X’lyssa snickered and switched back to her normal voice. “I call him Fen, the idiot dog that got chained up in heaven for biting the wrong hand and ate his own body when they made him skip dinner. Most of his spirit incarnated though, so he’s pretty dangerous on this plane. Divine beasts can use the blood of their descendants as portals and incarnate without a fair summon. Kinda cheap if you ask me.” She added with a rough shake, which only resulted in more ferocious snapping.
“What should we do with it now?” Raj asked apprehensively. The Overfiend might treat the beast lightly but she could feel the terrible power of the thing even if it was a tiny newborn.
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“It’d be a waste of a rare incarnation to destroy him and send him back. He would also cause all sorts of problems in Cairn Carna. That ecosystem isn’t built for super strong demons anymore...” X’lyssa pondered for a moment. “Oh! You could housebreak him like that gorgo! He was a total pig, but now I can sense some manners rattling around in there.”
The demon kitten in Tabula’s arms twitched his ears at that remark. His eyes turned like slowly widening saucers to regard X’lyssa and the miserable wolf she was clutching by the scruff. This woman could sense The Warlord’s spiritual changes so easily without even entering the simulations? Not only that, she had just effortlessly extracted a high ranking demon in full possession of its host. This one was very dangerous. As though sensing his thoughts, she turned a golden eyed stare onto Baelphegor and winked once. A shudder coursed through the demon and he quickly looked away. Yes, very dangerous indeed.
“That’s really the Fenrir?” Tili had fallen silent until now, shrinking away in instinctive fear as her leopard ears flattened. “He’s the enemy of all catfolk.”
“That’s still what everyone thinks on this backwater plane?” X’lyssa scoffed. “Catch up already. He and Azitet haven’t fought over prey in centuries. Fen is the enemy of anything he can cram into his belly, and once the boss lady here whips him into shape, he won’t even be that. There’s a nice dumb doggy under all those eons of ravaging, and it’s about time someone gave him a bath and a good talking-to.”
“I am not at liberty to act on my own in this matter, unfortunately.” Tabula interjected. “Once my master returns, we may bring it under advisement. I may, however, quarantine any threats until that time. Would you please provide me a summary of any known dangers or abilities this creature possesses?”
“Let’s see... Most of it is pretty standard. He’s stunted but his physical strength is probably still equal to a middle aged dragon. His breath weapon is rot based so have some high tier purification spells handy. He won’t be able to access his upper tier magic until he acquires language and regains his memories. At this point he has little to no clue who he even is. The only serious danger is his domain. Ravening Nightmare is one of the strongest domain abilities. It sends victims to a barren tundra dimension where one minute here is several days there. Fenrir’s pack hunts the tundra, and anything killed there is doomed to rise again as prey over and over for eternity. Only the Ash Huntress, Azitet has ever fought her way out after being caught in Ravening Nightmare. Many demigods and demons now call it home.”
“None of that is standard!” Raj blurted and Tili simply went pale. “Your conventions don’t apply to this world.”
“Oh it’ll be fine. Your master is plenty capable of keeping Fen in line, not to mention the lady of the house here.” She held the cub out as if to hand it to Tabula. “Anyways my lunch is probably cold by now so I’m gonna head back to my table.”
Tabula blinked, and the cub disappeared from X’lyssa’s hand.
“Your ninth wagyu cheek bordelaise with black truffle pomme puree of the day is still at perfect temperature, I can assure you Ms. Overfiend.” Her manner and tone were perfect, but those very familiar with Tabula might have detected a well disguised note of annoyance. “Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter, we won’t inconvenience you any further.”
“Don’t mention it!” X’lyssa either missed the irritation or simply chose to ignore it. “You know where to find me if anything else happens.” She gave Baelphegor a light tap on the head as she passed. “Quite the interesting pet you have there. Seems odd to worry about a little wolf with a big shot like that lurking around.” She left no time for a reply as she took up a whistling tune which receded out of the infirmary and down the hall along with her presence.
Raj, Tili, and Sapphire exhaled a collective sigh as the pressure in the room receded.
“It seems like the boy is out of danger now at least.” Sapphire finally broke the odd silence.
“I’ll keep him here under observation until he regains consciousness.” Tabula added. “Lord Gray should be returning from his survey soon, and then we may decide how to proceed.”
"Mm."
“Right.”
“Understood.”
“Thank you, lady Tabula.”
After their various sign offs, the four magic users exited the infirmary.
“Do you ever stop and think about the scale of change that one single man has wrought in such a short time?” Raj pondered aloud to no one in particular.
“All the time.” Tili answered. “Makes my head hurt though.”
“I tend to think where we’d be without him.” Sapphire shook her head with a grimace. “Our world was a ship with no helm, and a storm on every horizon.”
“So why does he seem like such a simpleton on the surface!?” Raj finally let the blasphemous thought slip out.
All three of them burst into a short laugh, and Tabula who heard every word as she arranged a simulation to correct Fenrir’s behavior on the Numberless Floor felt a genuine smile tug at the corner of her mouth. Of course she knew that lord Gray would agree to the plan, and she was fully within her rights as administrator to act. She merely wanted to waylay that arrogant woman for some reason. She understood better than anyone just how simple her master was, and that is exactly why he was so incredible. The most perfect equations were always criminally simple.
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Meanwhile a certain infernal world boss let out a sudden sneeze as he browsed the newly formed dwarven commercial district. He was buying all sorts of gifts for his hard working subordinates. His plan was time tested and bullet proof. He would lay low and shop until they sorted out all the complicated problems, return bearing gifts, and approve whatever game plan they had come up with. This was the way of the wise corporate American supervisor, and it hadn’t let him down yet.