-Xerilla-

"For the conception of the cursed child, and suspicion of conspiring with the dark gods below Lady Xerilla will be held within the Heavenly Realm until The Convergence."

There'd been no surprise for her when the ruling gods had decided on imprisonment rather than death, her very being was the cornerstone that kept The World Below separate from the other realms. She recalled the lack of compassion behind the golden eyes of her judges as they sentenced her. To many of them she was little more than a respected servant, a traitor among the first gods that silently waited in The World Below. The fact that she'd willingly assisted a child of the gods she'd betrayed once already was taboo enough, but then she openly confessed to her crimes and accepted her punishment without another word. Though the time Xerilla spent in captivity had only been a few months, the flow was time was strange wherever the gods resided.

Xerilla didn't waste time during her imprisonment though, her days were spent on trying to find a way to communicate with Hex through paths lost to the decay of eons. Each day she would mentally drain herself while piecing together the threads of ancient magicks while one of the gods visited her. The visitor of the day was Arcon, the bald headed, bronze skinned behemoth of a combat god with eyes of soft blue light. He wore the golden skin of a large lion like a cloak, and a loincloth made of the same golden material.

The only sound inside the tower was the impatient padding of Arcon's bare feet as he paced back and forth. "Have you reached your little godling yet Xerilla?" Arcon was the only one who knew what the Abyss Watcher was up to during her stay in the Heavenly realm, but it was in the god's nature to only care about what interested him. Arcon held the title of War God in the Heavens, and all the talk of an uncontrollable beast of chaos had excited him enough to press Xerilla for information on the newly born godling. To her credit though Xerilla all but ignored the combat god, and focused her attention on mentally following the flow of magick towards Hex.

The first sign of success was the fact that Arcon's voice sounded as if it were coming from one end of a long tunnel, and the second was a small weight pressing down on her folded lap. Once Xerilla opened her eyes she saw that the area around her was a swirling storm of darkness, and when she looked down she saw a small child with their head buried in her lap while their hand desperately clutched at her dress. The child's skin gave off a soft yellow color, and their body shook with fear as flashes of crimson energy tore through the darkness around them. Xerilla didn't fully understand where it was that she'd travelled, but her motherly instincts moved her towards comforting the child. "I'm sorry I couldn't bring you into a safer world beloved, in another life maybe." She cooed, and hushed their sniffing cries while gently brushing their hair with her hand. The storm around her calmed as the child seemed to fall asleep, and Xerilla took the opportunity to turn them over and examine them. Hex rested peacefully in her lap, and Xerilla felt a bitter sweet joy as her hand caressed Hex's cheek. That joy didn't last long though, and as her eyes fell on the small softly glowing crimson gem resting on his sternum Xerilla reached out to it. Once her hand got close enough however the gem glowed softly, and her hand changed as the light touched it. What was once a delicate slender hand had been turned into a grotesque three fingered appendage with sharp nails and Xerilla gasped aloud as her hand pulled back.

"There's an impressive amount of power inside our child isn't there Xerilla?" The deep, almost melodic voice that questioned her brought back memories she'd forcibly locked away, and when her head turned she was greeted by Omega. His form was more human than what she'd last seen of him, and he was wearing a business suit that wasn't the fashion in any of the three realms. Luscious strands of dark hair fell down to below his shoulders, but the slightly imperfect smile that didn't quite reach his crimson eyes was all too familiar to Xerilla. "He is not yours, and he never will be." She replied while protectively placing the non deformed hand over Hex's head. Omega only shrugged before a shout laughter burst from his lips, and it continued until he held his sides.

"Was gifting a lowly Chimera the Abyssal Flames a part of your plan to coddle the child?" He asked after finally gaining some control over himself. Omega gestured towards the rocky hellscape that could be seen through the calming storm around them before he spoke again. "Did you, oh majestic Lady, forget where the child is?" Omega began to pace while looking at Xerilla with the scolding look of a teacher upset with a lazy student. "I forget you can't really see what's going on down here. After the last failed coup attempt those on the council began to hoard resources, and plot against each other. If I don't take the child under my wing his only fate will be death or worse." Omega's eyes glared at the sleeping child while his arm began to reach out towards them, and snarl slowly emerged on his face. "I won't allow my creation to be used by them." His fist closed around air as he stared at an unknown enemy his mind created. "For the power you boast about having Omega, you never truly got rid of all that paranoia." Xerilla's words were followed closely by an annoyed, and disgusted look on her face as their eyes met.

Omega offered a fake laugh in reply as he stepped closer, and reached out as if to caress her cheek in his hand. Xerilla jerked away from his hand, and a harsher light came from the gem forcing Omega to pull his hand back suddenly. He hissed in pain as his other hand clutched at the wrist that had been burned away by the light. "We'll see how well your child handles Bygone without me then eh?" He hissed the question as his form slowly faded from sight, leaving only a wispy trail of crimson light. Xerilla cradled the child close to her as she worried about Omega's meaning, and why he'd mentioned Bygone. After a moment of silent contemplation Xerilla carefully laid Hex on his back, and prepared her transfiguration spells. While she couldn't directly affect Hex's growth, if she carefully inscribed runes along his soul she could help his growth, as well as opening his soul better to the flow of magick. Xerilla hoped that what little she did could open possible routes along the path of fate she'd seen before being locked away from The Abyss.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

As she stepped back to let the runes set a voice cut through the silence. "I hope one of those runes helps him control the Omega Engine in some way Lady." The raspy voiced response towards her work came from the eyeless, broken man who emerged from the dark storm. The 'Player' was an integral part of the shattered souls that made up Hex, but he'd retained more power than any of the others despite being the only true "human". He'd made a gamble with Xerilla when she'd offered to give him revenge, though she'd hoped his ego would've finally been fully assimilated by the time Hex woke. The edges of his eyeless sockets moved upward until the holes in his face made crescent shapes, and he offered Xerilla a bow. "You've created quite the beast Xerilla, but I am the one thing keeping the Exile's ego at bay. He wasn't thrilled when I had to break the news that you were just using him as a vessel for...that." His head turned slowly to stare at the softly glowing gem that seemed to follow the child's breathing. Xerilla watched as 'Player' chuckled to himself as he knelt and traced the runes with a finger covered in dark tendrils of mist. "Oh the things we could've done if there was ever a way to save you."

He spoke to himself, but despite herself Xerilla felt a small chill go down the contour of her back. "I'll tell you how I managed to stay around in this place, because we won't be speaking again one way or another." Player spoke without raising his voice as he punctuated his sentence by jamming his thumb, and middle finger into the gaping sockets until a dark crimson liquid fell like tears down his face. "I lived through so many of your schemes that I'm tired of it all, so this time I'll let you watch as your precious child grows into exactly what you wished for."

The reminder of a wish no one alive, or dead should remember brought back a painful memory that froze her in place. 'How could a human know about that?' Xerilla knew she should stop him, but the storm winds picked up as soon as Player began tracing his own runes overtop of hers. Her every step seemed to take her farther away from the two, and her voice was gone soon she could barely see them through the dark storm around her. Xerilla felt something push her away and her vision was filled with dark nothingness.

-Folly and Bygone-

In the heart of Bygone's Forest a large hollowed out tree sits beneath a ever changing canopy. Bygone had always enjoyed watching the passage of time shown by the forest trees' daily life cycle, sadly the past "week" had been spent with the ever impatient Folly. Bygone had almost gotten used to her constant chirping to the point he slept sitting inside the hollowed tree Bygone claimed as a throne of sorts. During the second week however they received visitors from a council family member who bowed low as they begged for their younger brother. The midnight skinned Minotaur godling looked strange to Bygone though. 'If I wasn't sitting here he'd be a close match for at least a few minutes. Where did all the gods with fight in them go?' As opened his mouth to speak an excited shriek from Folly interrupted him and his gaze lazily turned to see what had gotten her attention.

Five figures walked at different speeds down the westernmost path leading to Bygone's throne. The two leading the group were a curious pair, one scarred grey skinned Ogrillon godling with tusks towered over the rest of them at seven feet, his hair was cut short showing orange eyes that barely hid the godling's violent nature. The shorter one with the shining eyes didn't interest Bygone really, the forest rarely ever cherished pretty things after all. The hooded figure the followed closely behind them seemed to be attempting to hide themselves behind their companions, but Bygone flicked a branch entwined finger free releasing a portion of his power. A powerful gust of wind blew against the three with enough strength to knock off the hood to reveal the godling that tried to hide. When Bygone saw the familiar face of a godling with long golden hair, and beautiful ocean blue eyes he look towards Folly. Her amber eyes burned with excitement, and the smile on her face hinted at the insidious intentions behind those eyes. When the smile turned to a worried frown, and her wings twitched nervously whileBygone's gaze turned back towards the approaching party. Another demi human walked behind the three with a limp, and his right arm had been torn off at the elbow; his dark hair was covered in dirt as if he'd just wrestled with some great forest beast.

The one trailing the group walked with slowjerky steps that made it seem like it was being pulled by the others in the party. The creature had a glossy black carapace covering most of its body and a smooth featureless face save for the toothed smile that spread from ear to ear. A frown creased the old god's brow when he saw the creature, and he turned his eyes back on Folly before he spoke. "Is that your 'pretty' little godling you've been gushing about all this time?" His voice was deep, almost to the point where it could be felt in the other's bones, even without releasing any of his status the younger godlings all focused on him: The only exception being the Omega spawn that continued to walk unconcerned. "That's obviously Omega's fault...somehow." Folly protested as she crossed her arms in frustration, and the fire behind her orange eyes flared in frustration.

When she'd mentioned that it belonged to Omega the Minotaur that had been watching the party approach turned to look from Bygone to the creature. Bygone knew what always came next, and he waved a finger in permission while he sat back relaxing in anticipation. Before Folly could protest for the creature a loud bellow of challenge rang through the empty field, and Bygond closed his eyes. He felt the beast man release his status first before the thunderous roar of it actually reached his ears. 'Impressive for a young combat god, I was right about him-' Bygone couldn't finish the thought as the strong status suddenly vanished and he heard the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. When Bygone opened his eyes he saw the beast man lying on his back with open eyes still showing the shock he'd just experienced. Folly hadn't turned away though, and her expression clearly showed her astonishment at the events that she'd seen. The creature had closed the distance between the Minotaur, and itself in the blink of an eye; and it had immediately targeted the god's core in that time.

Bygone chuckled to himself, and excitedly sat forward again while he watched the creature consume the dark green core whole. "So Omega finally made one of those eh?" Bygone scratched at the twigs clinging to the hairs in his grey beard while asking the question. "My interest has been piqued, let's see if it can survive longer than the others Folly." Bygone pulled one of the twigs from his beard, and he flicked it towards the creature carelessly. When the twig landed softly at the, now docile, creature's feet two sharp wooden poles burst from the ground. The poles pierced through the creatures shoulders, lifting it off the ground until it was being held high enough for Bygone to comfortably look at it from eye level. 'We'll see how strong the Omega spawn's spirit is soon enough.'