“Thank you… Anyway, cheer up. You enjoy suffering. This can’t be that bad.” Kazius mused sheepishly.
“Of others, not my own. You are the second friend I have that I am close to and isn’t an asshole but has a death wish.” Azanor admitted in irritation.
At his words, Kazius grew curious. His words implied that he once had other friends, but he wasn’t that close to them. It also implied there was one that he had been close to that was as… Reckless as himself.
In terms of past friends, Azanor usually only ever brought up Zelphar, Ratier, and Thimdur… And his bad experience with the trio… Hard to blame him though, considering they ruined his life and even his marriage with their actions. Still, he had likely known many other people before he was sealed away. For starters, considering there were 4 Monsters involved in the war with Demons, he might have some friends out there that were still alive… Though they had never come up in conversation before.
“Second?” Kazius questioned.
“We are not talking about that now, let’s focus on this.” Azanor responded with a huff, not happy about the conversation, but he at least was cooperating.
“Fine… Look, the reason I am coming clean about my powers and The Shadows talking is simple. When we were going up Mount Cyklon, I almost got blown off that fucking mountain. Then suddenly my Shadow came out of the ground and saved me. By the time it helped me on my feet, The Shadows were angry. Next thing I know, they are talking to themselves, something they have not done before. I thought they were going to bring down the mountain with how upset they sounded… But instead, the wind stopped affecting me. They said it was beneath me or something like that… I didn’t even know they could affect me like that…” Kazius summarized at first, his words earning him a raised brow from Azanor.
On one hand, it seemed like Azanor was not aware Shadow Fiends could do something like that… But the look he gave was more of someone who found out new information, not that someone that was surprised at a ridiculous ability.
“Anyway, that pissed Vind off… So not only does she hate my kind, but she hates me personally. I think if Damon was not my friend, she may have not let me go so easily… She gave me advice for Damon’s sake too, but that is as far as her benevolence goes towards me. I… I can’t risk her talking to the Tribe. Who knows what they would do if they knew how Vind felt about me. That is half of what I need help with.” Kazius summarized, the thought of Vind talking to Egil or Damon stressed him out.
“Half?” Azanor questioned, wanting to know the rest.
“The other half isn’t really a problem I need help with, but rather I need a clarification of something Vind said… It seemed like it might even be the main reason she despises me so much.” Kazius admitted, unsure of how Azanor would even react to the name she gave him.
After all, Azanor made it very clear that anything involving Shadow Fiends terrified him… Even if he had not once really explained why with proper reasoning. It all sounded like silly superstition to Kazius… Simply fear of the unknown.
“Well? Out with it.” Azanor responded in annoyance at his stalling.
“She kept calling me Dark One and said something about how I am as insolent as my father and do whatever I want… It seems like she knows him… Does the name Seselis mean anything to you?” Kazius finally asked.
As Kazius spoke, it was almost like at each word Azanor only grew more and more horrified. The already pale Demon looked as white as his hair when Kazius finally spoke the name.
When Kazius said the name though… Azanor was not the only one that acted strange. The Shadows started whispering to each other, a choir growing louder and louder in the dark woods. There was no wind, but the trees seemed to sway as if there was.
After a while, they finally quieted down, but after that The Shadows were acting strange. Kazius had a feeling they were talking among themselves, but he could not hear them… Something they had not done before… It unnerved him. He did not like being excluded by them.
‘Did I upset The Shadows by saying that name? Or are they excited? I can’t tell…’
Still, Kazius decided not worry. The Shadows protected him, he believed them to only watch out for his best interest. They had given him no reason to believe otherwise.
Azanor was quiet for a bit, before suddenly beginning to shake… A sound he made snapped Kazius out of his thoughts.
“Hahaha… HAHAHAHA…” Azanor was laughing. The laugh was not a happy laugh, but more of a panicked and defeated one of someone cornered in an awful situation with nothing left to do other than laugh. It was an absolutely unhinged laugh.
“Hahahaha! Of course you are his son, that is just… Of course this is the situation I am in… It is just one fucking thing after the other…” Azanor stated in exasperation. Kazius could not help but feel guilty. Kazius knew Azanor had not had it easy since a thousand years ago… And now apparently his father was… Well, someone not good… To the extent it was stressing out the poor Demon.
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“I’m guessing he is not a good person? I mean… I ended up in a Human orphanage out of all things…” Kazius questioned sheepishly, trying to lighten the mood a little. He was starting to worry about his friend’s mental state from everything… Not like his own was any better, but still.
“Yeah, ‘Not a good person’ doesn’t even begin to cover it, Kazius. I would not even call him a person.” Azanor stated in panic, struggling to keep himself together to talk.
“First… Please… If you can do me any favor… Any favor at all Mr. ‘They are always listening to us anyway…’ Don’t say that name ever again, thanks.” Azanor began, grabbing at his hair like he wanted to pull it out from stress.
“Okay…”
“Second… I want to talk about him as little as possible… But if I die mid conversation, this is on you. If I have a soul, I will haunt you. I promise…” Azanor began, not delving further on why he emphasized the ‘if’ on whether or not he had a soul.
“For starters, he is the whole reason I tell you to not talk to the voices you hear… When it comes to Shadow Fiends… As terrifying as they are… he is the one you should fear more than anything else… To be honest, you were safer in an orphanage than raised by him… I wouldn’t know how you ended up in such a place… But whoever put you there, likely did so to protect you… That is probably the least your mother could do after laying with such a being out of all things… She may have placed you there to hide you from him.” Azanor began, sweating as he spoke.
“Like I said before, we know very little about your kind… But speak to anyone who is old enough and they will know that name. Before The Demon King was even born… Before me… Before even the most Beyond Ancient Dragon now was even a thought… A long time ago, the world was almost lost from a different threat entirely. Eternal darkness threatened to consume all light and life along with it. The continent was a giant nightmare, even by Demon standards… The culprit behind it all was…” Azanor took a deep breath as if bracing himself, pure fear in his eyes.
“Seselis… The Eternal Lord of Shadow… The King of The Shadow Fiends. The Abyss… He was so powerful that The Gods got involved to bring him down… Everyone believed him to be dead until around The Demon War.” Azanor admitted nervously. When Azanor spoke of The Demon King, there was usually only disrespect in his tone, but as Azanor spoke of Seselis… It was almost like he was making sure to pay respect in his tone… At least as much as he could while also expressing the danger.
Kazius was honestly horrified to hear such a thing about his lineage. He had a cold chill at the thought of meeting such an incomprehensible horror.
“So, they did not manage to kill him? How did you even manage to find out about something that happened so long ago? You can’t be that old, right?” Kazius asked in awe, but also concern.
Azanor frowned at Kazius’ words, his fear mixing with an offended expression.
“Do I look that old to you? Demons are immortal, yes, but no. I am not. This is something I heard from my grandfather… I will have you know that I am only 1,243 years old. A perfectly YOUNG Demon.” Azanor responded in irritation, apparently a sore spot for him. Then again, he spent most of his life locked up… So, it was rather understandable.
“But aren’t ancient dragons like 1,000-” Kazius began only to earn him a glare, so he quieted down. After all, Azanor was doing him a favor and putting his life on the line by speaking of such a being, even repeating his name for Kazius’ sake…
“Like I was saying… No, I am not. My grandfather told me about it. The war against your father is the reason behind why The Gods are not in this realm anymore. He did not meet your father personally, but he was around during that time. Like I said, few have met Shadow Fiends in general and survived to tell about it… Anyway… Removing your father’s influence and power forced them to move to a different realm that just barely touches ours… But because of that, who they can influence and where they anchor themselves is rather limited. Had they not done that though, they would have disappeared altogether.” Azanor continued with the history lesson.
“Vind hating me is starting to seem less unreasonable.” Kazius admitted, dejected. He was not a fan of how Vind treated him, but at the same time… It did make sense… Still, he was not his father. Should he not at least get the benefit of doubt?
“I saw first-hand the evidence that he was still alive… During the Demon War… Demons never guessed I betrayed them… I was an outsider due to how I behaved, sure… But they never suspected someone like me… It was not until towards the very end that I fought Demons myself… Information matters, and what I did is the only reason those idiotic heroes even stood a chance… But… Once Demons saw they were losing… I saw firsthand the consequences of messing with The Shadows… It is your father’s domain… Your kind’s domain… And not respecting that… Was a mistake…” Azanor admitted, looking almost as if he was staring past Kazius and at a horrific memory.
“The Dark Arts often have overlap… If you have a talent for one, sometimes you can find you have talent for another… So, they figured…. Eat enough souls… Without your father to enforce his claim over his domain… Some Demons brought up the idea of attempting to tap into The Shadows to increase their power. A way to gain the strength to force mortals to accept their fate as cattle… The Shadow Demon Project they called it… What was left of the Demons that attempted that…” Azanor began to shake in fear.
“If you want to live, you will respect The Abyss… The only reason you can use your power is because you have your blood… The permission to… But do not try to do more than you should… Please… Be careful, Kazius. I wish I could tell you more… But thankfully, I never met your kind and I hope you are the only one of them that I will ever meet… And above all… Do not do anything that will make him notice you… Whoever sent you to Ratier was trying to save you… Don’t make it all be for nothing. For everyone’s sakes. Your powers are safe to use as long as they are your own, otherwise I would not have taught you how to tap into it… The Shadows you use now are your own power and strength… But if you get greedy… Who knows what will happen.” Azanor pleaded.
Before Kazius could answer his friends’ plea…. Kazius finally noticed something… Damon was standing not too far, hiding, eavesdropping… His Shadows had not warned him… They had been acting strange since Kazius said Seselis’ name… But to think that it affected them so much to the point that they did not warn him… It was clear that he should avoid saying it in the future… It was almost like… Kazius shook his thought away. That did not matter… Not at the moment.
What mattered was… How much of their conversation did Damon hear?