The overfiend and I sat side by side on the ocean-side cliff south of the giant's city of Wortheim, where I had once watched the waves in solitude. I don’t know why I brought her to that exact place, but decided to not argue with my gut inclination.
X’lyssa had remained distant throughout the celebration. Even after we found ourselves alone and free to do as we pleased for the first time, she was oddly subdued. I suggested we go somewhere to be alone, and she nodded but wouldn’t meet my gaze.
“I thought you might like this view.” I finally tried to break the awkward tension.
“I was a little afraid of you when we met.” Her sudden off topic confession made me raise an eyebrow, and I kept my mouth closed assuming there was more forthcoming. “You may not even see it yourself, but you carry an aura of violence that echoes across ages and worlds. I am a selfish thing. I wanted nothing more than to steal that power in the form of your offspring. Our crossed lineage will result in a being that might one day surpass the creator gods.” She leaned back on her palms to look up at the stars, and I could not help but be captivated by her moonlit silhouette. For some reason she had chosen to come clean and tip her hand, and I was touched by that fact in spite of the awful message.
“I don’t know about my ‘aura’, but I’ll take your word for it. As far as your motivations... I never expected a ruler of the hells to have purely upstanding intentions. So, what changed?”
“I was a little afraid of you before. Now I am terrified. I can barely speak without trembling. My body wants to shatter into a million fairies and flee to every corner of existence. Warrior from another world, I fear that I am in love with you.” She turned and stared into my eyes, and I could see the trails of tears streaking her crimson cheeks.
My face went slack, and my mind went blank for a moment. Who was this person? What had they done with X’lyssa? A lifetime of trampled self esteem reared its vile head with an infinite supply of ugly arguments, most of them with the tone of “Someone like HER, loving someone like YOU? HA!” I steadied myself, and looked back into her eyes. She really was barely keeping it together. I knew my next words would be critical, but nothing but garbage came to mind. So I stood up instead, and offered her my hand.
She took it, tentatively. I pulled her smoothly to her feet and into my arms. I squeezed her gently and then pulled back just enough to brush her tears away with the back of my hand. I felt something then, a realization that made my heart break for her.
I was holding a person whom for so many centuries had been denied any softness, any tenderness at all. She was more lonely than even a career shut in like me could understand. Her inner voices were screaming out the same sentiments as mine. Neither of us felt worthy of the love of the other. How brave did she have to be to make that confession?
“You’re safe right now.” I spoke softly. “No knives are seeking your back here. The weight of your past is somewhere else tonight. You’re free, and you’re not alone.” I unequipped my chest armor, exposing my upper body.
She kissed me then, and for the first time it wasn’t an urgent and violent kiss. It was soft, affectionate, and put a crack in the wall I had built around my heart. Her hands found my back, and caressed me lightly. Jolts of electricity shot through me. How long had it been? My last serious girlfriend left me while I was still in the hospital after the accident. I might as well be a virgin is how long. Based on the way she was moving, it was a mutual sentiment. I smiled in spite of the seriousness of it. Two overpowered rulers were fumbling with each other’s bodies like clumsy teens making out in a movie theater. The realization made me so happy for some reason and my grin widened into a goofy and foolish smile that reached all the way to my eyes.
“What?” She asked. “Are you laughing at me!?”
“No.” I chuckled, pulling her in tighter. “I’m laughing at us.” That broke the awkwardness, and we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves all the way until the eastern sky turned pink with the coming dawn.
We were spooning a mile above the ground, levitating on a snow white cloud when the sun broke over the horizon and I took a moment to check the ‘voicemail’ from the previous night.
“Do you know of someone named Ogrun?” I asked, and felt her head stir on my bare chest.
Stolen story; please report.
“He’s one of the three exiled gods ruling the Radiant Empire.” She answered. “Why?”
“He showed up last night after Yugal and Niiya beat the shit out of a few of his subordinates.” I replied. “He let them be taken prisoner, and they’re at EDEN now.”
“Hmm. He probably wants to fight you. I can shut that down if you want. Don’t want anyone else bruising this body.”
“He’s that strong?” I was suddenly interested.
“Of course that’s your reaction.” She sighed. “He’s stronger than me, or he was. Your gift may have leveled the scales. That aside, it’s my grandfather he wont risk pissing off.”
“That’s strong alright. I wouldn’t want to fight you.” I teased and rolled on top of her. A stray wisp of cloud tickled my nose and I crinkled my face.
“Don’t you dare!” She yelped, seeing the sneeze coming.
“Hey...” I said as I suddenly noticed something strange. “Your skin looks different.”
“Huh?” She lifted her forearm and looked at it. Her eyes went wide. Her skin was getting lighter and more pale by the moment. Unlike when she had spent all of her power summoning the lost girls, there was no sense of her getting weaker. On the contrary, her aura was vibrating at a cleaner but more potent frequency.
“This...” She could hardly speak. “Is the way I was before I fell.” Her eyes flooded with tears. “How can it be!?”
“The bodies of spiritual beings are mirrors of the content of their souls.” I quoted directly from the Exiled Gods lore wiki. “Seems like maybe you let go of some of the darker stuff last night.”
“It’s not that simple...” She said, shaking her head.
“Are you worried?” I asked. “Should we head back and look into this?”
“I wouldn’t cut this morning short if I were melting in the sun.” She blinked away the tears and wrapped me back up in an arms and legs hug which felt more like a giant python attack.
“Okay, just a little longer.” I conceded. “By the way, how long will it take to know if you’re...?”
“With child?” She snickered at my discomfort. “Don’t mistake me for some bumbling human unable to coordinate a simple thing like conception. I’ve already accepted you, and so it is done. Sad you won’t need to try again?”
“A little.” I readily admitted.
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Baelphegor and the Warlord observed the new arrival to the Numberless Floor simulation. The Warlord’s lucid and peaceful personality was now a surprisingly dominant facet. Baelphegor had helped the tortured demon navigate the hellish simulations and collect much more of his shattered personality, resulting in the being he now spent much of his time with.
“The divine beast, Fenrir.” said the Warlord. “The Warlord once feared him as men fear death itself.”
“He’s in for a way worse time of it than you.” Baelphegor observed the algorithms being built in real time based on the data scraped from Fenrir’s millennia of horrific memories.
“How strange.” The Warlord muttered. “He has no malice, only hunger and fear.”
“So much death...” Baelphegor marveled in spite of himself. “Even Asmodaeus couldn’t claim this many kills. I’m going to talk to him.”
Baelphegor willed his consciousness toward one of the nearly infinite fractured scenarios where Fenrir was forced to confront the nightmares of his past. He manifested in a dark room. There was a child. Baelphegor recognized the wolf kin boy that had been the beast’s host, only he was much younger - barely more than a toddler. He was crouched over something. It was a dead rat, and not a fresh one. The belly of the carcass was inflated like a grapefruit, and the stench of decay hung about the musty cellar. An oppressive feeling hovered about the emaciated boy.
“Eat.” Came a desperate growl from somewhere unseen. “Eat.”
“No!” The little boy screamed even as his tiny shaky hands reached down to grab the rat.
Baelphegor left the scene as the boy began his vile meal. He meandered through many similar scenarios until he found one involving the beast itself. He stalked the smoking rifts of a low layer in the Hells. His body was little more than mangy fur and bones. His eyes were hollow and sunken deep into their sockets. Baelphegor tested Fenrir’s awareness.
“Greetings, Fenrir.” He sent his thoughts toward the plodding wolf. It stopped, and snapped its empty stare onto Baelphegor’s incorporeal form. There should have been no danger to the ancient demon, and yet Baelphegor found himself preparing defenses.
“Is it food?” The wolf’s thoughts drifted through the surreal space. “Is it prey?”
Baelphegor felt the distance between them shrinking, even though there was no discernible motion from either of them. Soon they were too close, and a cold fetid breath rolled through Baelphegor’s being.
“No flesh.” The beast lamented. “No prey.”
Baelphegor made the spiritual equivalent of a gulp, and focused his power in a way that could manipulate the simulated scenario without drawing the attention of the terrible administrator, Tabula. He was actually extremely proficient at discretely hijacking portions of this system. A huge boar carcass materialized before the towering gaunt wolf.
“Flesh!” Yellow teeth tore into the carcass, tearing away enormous chunks of dripping red meat.
The beast devoured the meal and stared coldly at Baelphegor. “More.”
“Answer a question and I will give you more.” The demon bargained.
There was a low growl in response. Baelphegor took that as acceptance. “What is your oldest memory?”
“Hurt.” The word was barely understandable. “Betrayed and hurt, then fear and hunger, then only hunger. More now.”
“Who hurt you?” Baelphegor pressed for a more satisfying answer.
“More. Flesh. Now...” The demand was becoming a threat.
“No.” Baelphegor denied him flatly. “Remember me. Remember the taste of the flesh I bestowed. I will see you again. Remember your defiance is why you hunger now.”
A mournful and angry howl followed the demon prince as he drifted away from the beast’s memory. Taming this one would take a long time.
“Having fun?” His physical cat body’s ears picked up the question. He diverted his consciousness to looking up at the android clutching him in her enormous cleavage. He pasted an innocent look on his face.
“Your meddling isn’t as discreet as you think.” She informed him. “In spite of your schemes, your results are commendable. Good work.”
Wait. No, no, no. Baelphegor couldn’t accept that. Those two words should never be said of the ruler of sloth. He thought he was acting in defiance of her, but she was in on it!? Oh how he hated geniuses like that.
“I’d like you to keep working on the beast called Fenrir. Earn its trust and continue to develop the numberless floor simulations. Your efforts have freed up a substantial amount of bandwidth for me. Do well and you can expect a reward.” She hit Baelphegor with words that jarred his spirit to the core.
“I’m... the Prince of Sloth. The Prince of Sloth can’t get a JOB!” Baelphegor’s cries fell on deaf ears and Tabula smiled smugly at the kitten’s dismayed face.