Days have passed since the undead sage Theoron, now known as Noroeth the lich, has locked himself inside the study at the demon lord’s castle without even taking a single step outside. After having asked Lilith to warn everyone not to disturb him under all circumstances if she ever wanted to see these scrolls analyzed, the sage has drown himself ever since in this mountain of books he has gathered from both the archives of the Vault and the ridiculous amount of texts from the Artificer’s mansion. Driven by both his passion for grasping ancient knowledge as well as to solve the crisis at hand, Noroeth was determined to find out the mysteries behind the Oaths made between the old demon lords and the Artificer.
But that was only one of the many things he must uncover from these old scriptures. The matter of Akroma being buried in the underground of Ragna has raised some serious concerns, although the only people who knew or were informed about it were Lilith, Archna the Spider Queen and Noroeth himself. The reason for this secrecy was to limit the knowledge of this dangerous weapon from being spread around, preventing people from using it or accidentally awakening it. For now, the only measure that has been taken so far was scouting the continent using the spiders’ network to make sure there would be no trespassers who could disturb Akroma. As for the rest, the Goddess could only hope that an effective countermeasure would be developed in time before something bad happened.
However, the biggest problem of analyzing these texts would be the translation of the old language used. The process took a lot of time since the language was now dead and long lost, only found in very few ancient scriptures. Thankfully, the sage possessed centuries worth of knowledge and experiences in this kind of task, making the process relatively easier for him than someone else doing it. Of course, that was not to say that it was simple to do. And so the translation was ongoing, slowly but surely. Yet even though there have been some progresses, the few words he has translated so far did not make any sense and only added to the mystery.
In addition to this, Noroeth has also found a diary which seemed to belong to Tia, the wife of the Artificer and probably the closest person to this mysterious character. But could her diary actually contain important information that could help him solve this mystery?
“Hmmm….so far nothing relevant. Only babbling about her daily life with her husband…Now I feel guilty for reading this woman’s diary.” The lich sighed. He has tried to skim through this diary to quickly get back to the translating task in hope of finding something interesting but to his dismay, there was nothing. The diary only spoke about their normal daily lives with some moments of drama but absolutely nothing about what Noroeth was looking, at least based on what he has read so far.
But then, after hours of examination, something odd came up.
“Day XXX
Today, Marcus finally succumbed to my begging. I knew he has been doing something down there at his facility for years but my stubborn husband would not let me to see what it is. He always said that it was still under construction so it might be dangerous me for to be there. Such a worried man! I know that I am not the strongest woman out there because of my illness but he is just too overprotective. I can handle myself.
Still, that is until now. Finally I will be able to see what Tartarus is.
Looking forward for tomorrow’s visit.”
“Tartarus? Isn’t that the thing in the underground of the castle of which Mephisto always talked about? I thought it is just a cave to hide our troops? ” Murmured Noroeth before resuming his reading.
“I was wrong.
Marcus has committed a terrible mistake. I thought he was doing something good, something that would help people. I don’t know much about the order and politics of the world nor am I interested in finding out but I can say with certainty that Tartarus will not help anyone if it is unleashed. That thing should have never been created.
How could Marcus think that it will help him achieve what he has always aspired for? Yes he will be recognized but not as the man he thought, but as the one who has brought the end of the world.
But it is not too late. We can still salvage this; we can still correct our mistake. And I thank the Gods that Marcus has listened to me. Imagine what would have happened if I was not here to stop him from activating it in time!”
“I thought Akroma was the worst thing this old man has created. Is there an even worst artefact than it locating right under our feet?” muttered the lich in disbelief.
“We have done it. Tartarus has been sealed off. To make sure it can never start up, we decided to take out six vital parts of its body and turned them into artefacts. While we cannot destroy it, by barricading the entrance and using the security system Marcus has previously installed, it will make sure that not one would ever disturb Tartarus again.
I can only wish that this would be enough. But I am afraid. What if Marcus decides to use it after I am gone? Because of this disease, who knows when I will leave this world? It can be tomorrow or in ten years…I will do what I can to separate Marcus from it. He might have complied with what I asked but I know that deep inside, he still could not forget about it. That’s why I chose a better alternative: I gave each of the keys necessary to enter Tartarus to the friends I trusted. They are adventurers so they will never in the same place for long and will ensure that the keys will not be found again. Hopefully, they will stay far away from it till the end of time.
…..
It has been a long day for us two. I guess I will go to sleep early today. My affliction is getting up again these recent days. Perhaps I am thinking too much…”
From what followed next, it seemed to indicate that the health of this diary’s owner was deteriorating fast. There were passages where the handwriting suggested the woman was barely able to hold the pen, trembling every here and now in her sentences. And those small darken red stains on some following pages were certainly not ink dropping…
However, things suddenly took a turn for the better after a certain encounter with a strange man named Vincent, who seemed to be Marcus’ friend. Apparently, Tia has fully recovered from her diseases. What followed was her usual life loving and happy daily life with her husband. While it was not relevant to what Noroeth has been looking for, a part of him was relieved to see that this woman finally found back her happiness.
But it didn’t last long. Apparently, the thing that Marcus has created to cure Tia’s illness was not seen in a good light by the common people and regarded as a heretical object, a blasphemy to the Gods. While the woman did not seem to understand what exactly cured her or how it worked, she was confident that this would definitely be helpful to everyone. Yet, her peers did not think the same.
“….The diary stopped here?” the next few pages were blank, untouched. It was quite frustrating for the lich to have the story just abruptly stop there. He wanted to know what happened next. Although, he had already an idea of what took place based on the calamity caused by the Artificer. Something must have happened to Tia for the old man to do what he did. That was his conclusion.
Flipping blank page after blank page, Noroeth finally arrived at the final pages of the crimson diary where he found something strange. There were new entries written there but these were not the same writing as Tia’s. So who wrote that? The lich could only think of one person. The passage was written in a quite poorly manner, making it very difficult to read. It seemed that whoever wrote this was either in a very bad health condition or was not sane enough to write properly. There were only a few sentences and words that Noroeth could make out of it.
“………I killed her…….my sins………..Vincent helped me……….We have sealed Akroma……..At least it would be useful for something……..Akroma……prison………Tartarus…end of time……The key…….Demon Lord…….Guardian……..Oath…… “
The intangible words made it so that the passage was practically unreadable and didn’t make much sense. However, based on these few words, Noroeth has deduced at least something.
Akroma must have something to do with Tartarus. And from the look of it, this was no good news at all. Both objects were apparently incredible dangerous and their connection to each other did not make it better. In fact, it got much worse. Furthermore, this even had something to do with the Oaths found in his secret room. But what was the link between them?
“Something is still missing……” the lich murmured before going down at the end of the page where a symbol was drawn: a circle with two chains crossing each other to make an ‘X’.
He remembered that he has seen this symbol many times, on every scroll on which the Oath was written on. “This is not a drawing…Could this actually be a rune?”
Powerful magic, especially when it involved something like Oath magic, usually required the old symbols that have been given to the mortals by the Gods in order to be activated. It replaced the usual incantation used by mages to cast spell and could be written down to give power to objects or instant casting spell. That was how these scrolls were still emitting so much power. It came from the rune imprinted on it.
The Oath magic book found in the study of Artificer must have mentioned this rune. Immediately reaching for the grimoire, the lich skimmed page after page and searched for that symbol. Finally, he found it.
“The Rune of Binding! This special rune is used to bind a target to a specific location or a specific task. In exchange, the caster must abide to a setting rule made by the target. The pact will expire if one of the parties dies or both parties agree to cancel it. In addition, both parties will never be able to harm each other under the laws of the Universe.”
“The Rune of Binding…..if the caster is the old man then the target would be the demon lords. But what are they bound to? ….. What did all the demon lords have in common regarding a task or….No way….That’s why?” A thought came to the lich’s mind. It was just a baseless theory, a mere speculation but this question has stuck in his mind for a very long time.
The hatred for the demons and the demon lords were mostly common in ancient time when the title of demon lord was not even established. Back then, the demons were considered the same as monsters, leaderless and unorganized. Even what was equivalent of the demon lord known today, meaning the host of Magnus, was regarded simply as an extremely powerful monster that would attack alone or in very small groups. However after the incident that split the large continent of Mara into two with the smaller part named Ragna and the mysterious disappearance of the majority of the demons in Mara, the kingdom of demons was only established by then and their first king was called the demon lord. The demon lord Primus mentioned in the scroll was not actually the first Chosen of Magnus but only the first king of demons after the creation of Ragna.
This story was no secret even though it has happened thousands of years ago. But there was one particular detail that many have overlooked. That was after Primus, there has never been a case of a demon lord attacking Mara or anywhere else. Actually, it was always the humans from Ceadric and other countries who have launched countless crusades and demon extermination expedition on Ragna. Not once there has been a demon invasion, at least not by the demon lord. But such things were preposterous. Demon lords who sought peace like Asgore were rare. Surely it could not be that all of them would just remain there until someone came and killed them or they died of old age. And even though many demon lords have passed away, leaving the demons to fend for themselves, the demons have always managed to push back the invasion thanks to the Artificer’s weapons. There was something weird about all this. If they had the Artificer’s help, why did they not use those weapons to go outside of Ragna? Combining with a demon lord’s power, it would be unthinkable for the world to remain this calm, especially when a new demon lord would always come to replace the dead one.
“Unless the Oath prevented them to…If the rune of Binding obliged the demon lord to stay on Ragna, it would make sense that there was no invasion since he could not get out of the country.
It’s not that they didn’t want to invade. It’s because they couldn’t.” Noroeth thought out loud.
This idea was so ludicrous to think about that no one would believe it was possible. But it did explain the strange events and the reactions of the demon lords of the past. The Artificer made some kind of deal with each new king, forcing them to stay on Ragna in exchange for his assistance in protecting the kingdom. The old man could have either tricked them into making the pact or reasoned with them, perhaps even threatened them when they were still weak compared to him. And once the pact was in place, the Artificer would have nothing to fear from the demon lords as they could not hurt him.
That kind of pact was not so much outrageous of an idea compared to what Noroeth has seen. It seemed reasonable enough to at least take this theory into account. But the question was why? For what reason did the Artificer make the demon lords stay on this continent? Surely it could not be because the old man cared about the peace of the world. Impossible, he was not that kind of man. So why?
Looking back at the last few lines at the end of the diary, two words stood out that made the skeleton wonder if he was really onto something: ‘Guardian’ and ‘Prison’.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The term ‘Guardian’ was also found in the Oath scrolls and one of the few words that Lilith managed to remember from the scroll. The problem was: who was the ‘Guardian’ mentioned here? Was it referring to how the old Artificer must be the guardian for the demon race? Or was it the demon lord who must be the guardian? But if the demon lord was the guardian, what was he guarding?
The second word ‘Prison’ could also be interpreted in two ways. Assuming Noroeth’s theory about the demon lord was true, even though how ridiculous it sounded, then could it be talking about how the demon lord was inside a prison, trapped in Ragna? Or something more? The problem here was the word ‘Prison’ was actually found between ‘Akroma’ and ‘Tartarus’.
“Just what on earth is Tartarus?”
* * *
While the sage was locking himself in that study, filled with questions in his mind, Alastor was at the beach in the southern coast of Ragna together with Naberius, Stella and of course the sea dragon Abalone. After transferring the members of the dragon hunters to the dungeon of the demon lord’s castle, the boy has decided to depart to Oros immediately. He has delayed this trip long enough. Without any idea what could be awaiting over there, Alastor wanted to get to this presumably last child of his before things were too late like what happened with Odium.
“So you are really going then?” asked the beastman.
“Yeah! I thought I told you about it. Please don’t try to stop me!” said the boy.
“I won’t. You are free to do whatever you want. It’s your choice. Besides, it’s not like I can stop you anyway.”
“Thank you! Please take care of things when I am gone!”
“No worry about that! It’s my duty after all.”
“Alright! So how do we go there, Abalone?” Alastor turned his attention to the dragoness.
“There are many underwater currents that flow through all the oceans and seas across the world of Astora since they are all connected. By taking advantage of their speed, we will borrow the path that leads to Oros. If there is no problem, we should be able to arrive in Oros in half a day.” Explained Abalone.
“I see. But how do I and Stella stay inside the current without being blown out?” inquired the boy.
“Like this!” Without warning, Abalone opened wide her large mouth and swallowed both Stella and Alastor in an instant.
“……Alastor? You there?” Naberius, shocked by the display, shouted out loud.
“…I am ok..I think. It’s kind of dark in here though.” A disembodied voice spoke from inside Abalone. “It’s so warm inside you Abalone, a bit wet and humid though!”
“Somehow that sounds so lewd.” Grinned the beastman.
“Shut up!” grunted the dragoness.
“I guess we will go like this. See you later, Naberius! Take care!” the young voice shouted.
With that said, Abalone headed her colossal body into the sea water before immerging herself completely. And then she was gone, along with the young demon lord and the doll.
“And there he goes…*sigh* guess I have to go back to work then.” Naberius turned his back and headed back to the castle.
Suddenly, a small figure jumped out hurriedly from the bushes in front of Naberius and yelled at the beastman.
“Where is he? Where is Alastor?” asked Azureus as he looked around hastily.
“He has just departed to Oros with that dragon and the girl.” Naberius answered.
“Damn it! I missed him.” Grunted Azureus. “Guess we will have to do.”
“Why are you looking for him? What’s wrong?” inquired the beastman in confusion.
“Take up your armour and sharpen your weapon, dude! We are going to war!”
* * *
It was night time in the capital of Ceadric. The soothing moonlight was shining upon the Golden city, casting shadows of everything touched. But the light, no matter how strong it was, no matter how bright it could be, was unable to bestow its lucent radiance to all. In many places of this city, darkness ruled, from the deepest corner of a sombre alley to the acute heart of men. Behind those closed doors, who knew what kinds of deeds were being done? Who knew what kind of depravity was taking place? The feeling of dread, of terror has been ruling these streets recently. As soon as the sun went down, the streets became void of people, not like during its glorious time just a few months ago when the title of the Golden City with its luminous light even in the midst of night actually still meant something.
And yet, in the midst of this tense ambiance, there were some who did not yield to the darkness. On the contrary, they thrived on it, these shadowy people lurking around in the city. But unlike those criminal folks who took advantage of the current situation for their evil deeds, these entities were capable of moving with unimaginable speeds in a ferocious way. Wearing dark attire in order to blend in with the darkness of night, these individuals looked more like beasts than actual humans. And perhaps they were, considering the horrible experiments they had to endure and survive, all done against their will. Yes, they were the Hunters, the children now grownups that survived the demon transformation experiment done by Sanctus, the Orphans of Dark.
After years of wandering and working as mercenary, the Hunters have been given a new purpose and were currently on their way to the recently discovered hideout of the Cult of Lumen. Led by Maria, the Hunters’ goal in Cedra was to assist young Edward, a Deus mage, in raising his power in both terms of magic and influence. In addition to that, they must guide him in his way to change the country of Ceadric from within. Whether it was possible or not was still debatable. However, it was much better to die trying than to sit around doing nothing.
Anyway, they must first come to meet Edward at the designed location before launching the assault on the cult. But to their surprise, a familiar face has appeared before them. Slowly descending from the sky with his large bat wings, the figure possessed unusually elongated limbs that distinguished him from an average human, along with his sharp claws.
“Mephisto?” Maria uttered in shock upon recognizing the face of the figure gradually unveiled by the moonlight. “What are you doing here?”
“Good evening! I am here to assist you in your mission.” Said the devil.
“What? Does Alastor think we cannot do it ourselves?” Maria groaned.
“Not at all! I am here on my own volition so don’t blame him! Let’s just say that I have some personal business that aligns with what you are doing here! I hope you don’t mind me tagging along.” Mephisto spoke politely.
“Well we don’t mind but your appearance might give away….” Maria pointed at Mephisto’s pair of wings.
“That won’t be a problem.” With a snap of a finger, Mephisto assumed a more human form of an adult male in his fifty with short dark hair. Still wearing his colourful attire, it would not be a stretch to mistake him as a noble. “All done and well, would you mind keep me up to date on our way, miss Scarlet?”
“…Of course!” Scarlet showed a slight hesitation.
“Let us be on our way then! We should not keep Edward waiting for too long.” Maria said before jumping to a nearby roof.
“…Why can’t you tell her who you are?” With everyone gone, the dark haired girl asked the tall man. Her reaction, her eyes, her attitude, everything she was showing right now indicated that she knew who this man was. Not the devil Mephisto, not one of the four royal guards of Ragna but someone else, something important to her and Maria. Who was this name before he became the demon known as Mephisto?
“…I have no idea of what you are talking about, miss Scarlet and I suggest you keep this wild thought of yours for yourself.” Answered the devil in a cold voice.
“But teach….”
“Please…don’t call me that! That man is already dead. Would you mind lead the way? I don’t want to keep Maria and the others waiting.”
“…..Fine.”
* * *
In the northern district of Cedra, something major was taking place inside an old house. Locating at the dead end of a dark alley, this was the perfect place to hide whatever you were doing that you didn’t want others to find out. A perfect place for criminals and degenerates it was. From a whorehouse to some twisted plays crib reserved for rich nobles with ‘special needs’, this place had built up quite a dark history and reputation. Especially recently when this place has been acquired by a new owner. A butcher apparently bought it to remodel it to a slaughterhouse for his pigs. A good choice since the screams of the dying animals would never disturb the folk wandering the main street as the house was situated at the far end of the alley.
However, there were a few strange points about this new ‘meat house’. First of all, the pigs were brought in bags carried by men in hood, some even had tattoos. One look at those suspicious people would tell us that they were up to no good. Secondly, for a slaughterhouse, where did the meat go after being chopped up? We have seen people bringing in the bags but never have they brought something out with them. And even though it claimed to be a meat shop, there were never any items being displayed at the front. It was as if the owner never really cared about whether his shop could collapse at this rate. How did he sustain the shop at this rate?
But none of those points was anything compared to the sounds made by the creatures being killed inside. The screams, the cries of those ‘pigs’ seemed so …..human. While many were curious by this shop, none dared to venture too far near as anyone who was found sneaking around it just mysteriously disappeared without even being seen again. Perhaps they were caught by those suspicious looking men wandering around the street. But what happened to them after that? Who knew?
A hooded man in a brown robe was now in front of the house, knocking in a strange pattern on the door: one knock, wait for one second, three consecutives knocks, wait then one final knock. Through a small hole on the door, the metal plate covering it slid to one side before a person, also hiding their face in hood, peered out of the hole.
“What is the password?” asked the man inside.
“Death to all the demonic filth! Glory to Lumen!”
“Come on in, brother! The ceremony is just starting.”