Chapter Thirty-Two: Shialk’s Revelation

In my old life, I might have panicked or freaked out. I would have frozen or desperately try to explain myself. I didn’t do any of that. Between the self-assuredness that came with higher charisma and the countless times I had to battle for the sake of my new life, I only felt calm as I turned to face the voice that had interrupted the conversation I was having with myself.

“Hello, Shialk. What brings you up here?” I wasn’t trying to gloss over his questions, but I was genuinely interested. I hadn’t been expecting anyone up here for at least a few more hours.

“I got bored. The area I was designated is quiet. The gangs are nowhere in sight, for obvious reasons, and the people are all staying in knowing how many guards and adventurers are about. I was able to sneak away for a while, and I wanted to talk to you.”

I bobbed my head in understanding. It’s hard to sit still when you know you are wasting your time.

I wasn’t sure how madness worked in this world, or even if I could go insane. I wondered what my companion would say if he knew I was talking to myself, but there would be no avoiding it. Either I answered now, or he would push the matter. Deciding nonchalant honesty would be the best policy, I answered his initial question.

“I apologize. I was talking to myself in boredom while thinking through some things. I know that we are doing what’s necessary to achieve the best outcome for everyone. I still feel a bit of guilt for the lives that will be lost in the process and was trying to see if there was a way to ensure safety.”

I then extended a finger pointing towards the alley far below us, before continuing.

“As for the blood, I happened to notice someone who thought it would be a good idea to make use of a child for his personal pleasure while nobody was around to persuade him that it wouldn’t be a good idea. I convinced him of his error.”

“It looks like you did more than convince him,” Shialk grunted before shuffling over next to me. My enchanted clothes were already absorbing the blood and within minutes they would be pristine once again.

I would just find some time to go wash off my skin before anyone else stumbled across me.

“I ensured that other children would be safe from his interests,” I dismissed coldly, before sighing. “Perhaps I acted rashly.”

“You will get no judgment from me. The city is dangerous enough for children. Though, depending on his friends and family it might have been best if you had brought him in for an official hearing, or at least had witnesses.”

The demon’s memories whispered in my mind, joining the rest of the quiet murmurs of those I have devoured.

Nrex had been an absolute shit-stain of a person and had long since pushed away anyone of consequence from his life, and had spent the last few years on the margins of society praying on the weak and defenseless. Which mostly included street children.

Nobody would miss him.

“Yep. So, you wanted to talk,” I said. I laid back until I was staring past the canopy at the night sky. It was incredible how even a city in this world didn’t seem to have enough ambient light in this world to obscure the wonder of the celestial heavens.

A soft thump landed next to me as Shialk took a seat, also laying back to look at the sky. This was the first time I had ever been alone with the demon. I still considered him a friend, but there was no hiding the tension that had lingered between us since our first encounter.

“This world is incredible. There’s always so much to learn, and so much to see,” Shialk mumbled, and then cleared his voice. “I don’t want to die. I don’t want to stay an adventurer. I want to retire and open an alchemy shop.”

The way he announced it seemed like he was talking more to himself than to me so I just waited while he worked out what he was trying to say.

“I don’t hate you. I am not scared of you. Or at least, not you personally-,” Shialk started to say again trying to find his voice, but I held up my hand to stop him.

“Listen, man, I know you don’t hate me. We have fought side by side, bled together, and even had drinks together. You have been friendly, but you are scared of something. You try to not let it show, but something about me has you on edge. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I can see that you want to trust me. That’s enough for now.”

I tried comforting the imp. What I said was true. There’s a bond that goes beyond feelings when you fight alongside someone. You don’t always have to like them or trust them individually. That bond goes beyond that, and I can trust in that connection if not anything else.

Shialk sighed, I knew he was trying to get something off of his chest, but I also knew that at times there were no right words. Sometimes there were too many emotions and thoughts to convey simply.

Occasionally the best answer was the simplest, and other times a visual aid worked even better.

Shialk stood up next to me and began taking off his tunic, I vocalized my objections but before I knew it the little demon stood before me bare-chested, and I had to bite back any comments.

I knew he had been a slave, and I had seen the brutal marks on his wrists already, but the rest of his body was marred with age-old wounds that had healed into horribly disfiguring scars.

I could see knots roping across his flesh from where whips had struck him, but there was more. Some of them were incisions that had been stitched and not healed with magic.

Still, there were more, and not all of them were easily discernable. Bending over Shialk reached into his satchel and pulled out a vial with a liquid that shone with an azure light.

He drank half of the liquid and then poured the other half on his chest. Before my eyes, the imp's skin bubbled and remold itself. Until one of the scars that had looked like it had originated from a burn that melted the skin became the only part of his chest that wasn’t injured.

Upon his breast was a tattoo though and my spine shivered as I saw it. It wasn’t writing, just a symbol, so there was no way my translation ability would work on it, and I had no idea what it meant.

But still, I understood it on a spiritual level, it resonated with something inside of me. The design itself looked like a sun, with flares branching off the ring. Except the sun was filled in with black giving it a sinister feeling.

Within the circle was lightning striking from the bottom reaching upward. Branching as it went. The tattoo shimmered with magic and I could feel the beating of my heart accelerate as I looked upon it.

I could feel my skin itch, and burn, but still, I could not pull my eyes away from it. As quickly as the sensation had come upon me it began to fade, except for the pulsing still beating in my ears.

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Shialk nodded in satisfaction before putting his tunic back on and standing boldly before me.

“What?” I questioned, but I couldn’t find my voice, as the thrumming still echoed through my mind.

“It’s the brand of those who have sworn to serve and protect the Dark Lord. Most people are ignorant of the true history of this land. The truth was obscured by time and intent as those in power sought to keep things hidden from the people.”

As Shialk spoke he walked to the edge of the branch and looked down upon Zexestra.

“Some of us were safeguarded to hold the truth. Eight thousand years ago this entire continent was free of humans. There were multiple kingdoms, filled with various species, not so different than it is now.”

I sat up and stared at the imp as he spoke. While he was telling me things I already knew, his words carried a gravity that enraptured me. I could almost visualize a different continent, more primitive and diverse. As he spoke words painted themselves into my mind with vivid clarity.

“For centuries the surface kingdoms would fight, make treaties, and break them. War was so constant that the very earth itself became stained with blood, and the bodies became fertilizer for the plants. Even the trees of this city were grown on the corpses of those long-dead ancestors.”

Shialk then pulled out another potion, a purple-pink potion that fizzed within its flask. He didn’t drink this one though, and instead poured a drop onto his hand.

Focusing on the bead of liquid an arcane shimmer appeared around it, and an image began forming in the air as he spoke. It was similar to how I manipulated the shadows to create images, or how my grimoire formed the holographic map.

It showed the continent of Shiggeard from long ago. I almost didn’t recognize it because several key features were missing.

The mountain regions surrounding The Wound were gone, and I couldn’t see any real plant life. Bodies spread across the land and were left to rot as the wars never seemed to cease. The blood became rivers, as death itself seeped into the ground.

The corpses of the dead soon began to grow plants and trees, making way for the jungles of Zelastin to form. On the other side of Shiggeard, massive forests grew. Where the jungles seemed wild and untamed, filled with dark menace, the woods were misty and expansive, like a haunting mystery.

Even as life returned to the dying continent the battles still waged, consolidating on the center. As I watched the images I almost didn’t notice that Shialk was speaking again.

“However, all that death could not last. All of that blood and magic had to go somewhere. As the forces prepared for their final conflict to determine who would become the undisputed ruler, the world below them shook as the very earth conspired to trap the warring factions.”

I could see the sudden eruption of land as mountains tore out of the ground, encircling the armies and killing thousands.

“From these mountains, the monsters emerged, as the first Dark King ascended to the land. He too was a Fel-Human. The first by all accounts. His name and origins have been lost to time, but on that day the endless bloodshed ceased.”

Shialk twirled his fingers as the image danced above his hand. A figure emerged from the midst of a horde of monsters as he and his army marched on the fatigued legions of surface dwellers.

My breath caught as I stared at the image. The man exuded dark confidence and malevolent power. As he walked long serpentine tendrils grew from his body and lashed out at anyone who stood before him.

Soon the only ones before him were the other kings.

“He made them kneel that day. And became known as the Monster Emperor. His promise was that he would return to the dungeon and remain as long as the war didn’t envelop the whole land again.”

The image shifted and the remnants of the armies marched away. The monsters lingered though as dungeon entrances had opened up all over the world. Monsters would trickle out of them, but not in swarms. A promise that the emperor was always watching.

“It didn’t last though. Time passed and the emperor became a myth and the other races came hunting. It was the fault of one of the Demon Kings. He sought to expand his domain across the sea. It was a failed attempt and his army was pushed back, luring the peoples of Ikiggeard to our borders.”

I could see thousands of ships landing on the eastern shores where the forests had grown. Soon elves, humans, and dwarves flowed out like a tide. They washed everything away until they reached the continent-spanning mountains. Wide turbulent rivers crossed them, but the ships couldn’t handle the waters and rocks and the expanse stopped.

“It was a balance and new treaties were formed to ensure a tentative peace. The schemes of the demon king didn’t stop though. He knew the myth of the monster emperor and sought to use him as a scapegoat for his actions.”

I could see some groups of demons leading the new races through the dungeon until they “accidentally” stumbled onto the lair of the Dark King. What surprised me the most was the images of a variety of different races at the depths of the dungeon. Shialk noticed my eyes go wide and nodded.

“Yes, when the original king returned to the depths there were some who went with him. Among them were the imps. We served him faithfully until the day war broke out again. He ordered us all to return to the surface in order to spare us from the fate he suspected was coming.”

The image faded then and the branch we were on dimmed back into darkness.

“What happened next?” I asked, quietly.

“We watched as he fell. We waited. We knew one day a new Dark King would rise. It wasn't a prophecy, but an inevitability. I don’t fear you, Leo. At least not because of who you are, or what you are, but of what you represent.”

I could now see things from his perspective. His whole life, and the lives of those before him were dedicated to holding these secrets for some uncertain future.

He had suffered and had been enslaved. His only hope for his future was to have the freedom to pursue what he wanted most. That resonated with me too. All I longed for was the freedom to go wherever I wanted, and the power to do so.

Yet just after taking a harsh betrayal from a supposed friend he meets the one person he is bound by blood to serve, and one who is the fulcrum of chaos and destruction. One whose very presence marks the onset of a catastrophic war.

“You fear the blood that will be spilled in the wake of my pursuits. You fear the fact that you are bound to my side and the peace you long for might be impossible. I am sorry, friend.”

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault you are a system-born.”

“So my guess was right, it isn't that system-born stir up chaos, but they are born because of it.”

Shialk nodded and then confirmed it.

“Yes, when the tides change they arrive, and chaos follows. They upset the balance of power and leave mayhem in their wake. The end result is always the same. A version of stability far better than it would be otherwise. Too much bloodshed and the dungeon would summon a new Dark Lord.”

“What? The dungeon summoned the dark lord? What about the system?” I inquired, but Shialk shook his head.

“The system didn’t exist until he ascended. Even then it was only active in the dungeon. It was only upon his death everyone on the surface gained partial access to it. Whatever the system is it’s tied to the dungeon and its whims. While often it seems to want to prevent the need for a new Dark King, your arrival was inevitable.”

“Them! It’s the other one!” I exclaimed, startling Shialk.

“What?”

“Remember. I said someone else is behind the scenes manipulating things and it wasn’t the system. Good. I think that so far the other ‘systemborn’ are the result of someone else. Maybe the gods these humans worship, I don’t know. But if they were working to prevent my arrival, then the system has been using me to counter them.”

“That makes sense. That explains…. oh, by the gods! that explains the experiments.”

“What experiments?”

“Humans studying dark magic, and necromancy. Trying to learn how monsters can be controlled. My slave masters would slice me open and every other thing they could get their hands on trying to find the key. It’s one of the reasons I was hesitant around you. I had been hurt by dark magic, and then because I knew the secret. But if humans are studying dark magic and the power of the dungeon they could have been trying to subvert the system!”

“But now there is a quest giving anyone who makes it free access,” I groaned in annoyance.

Shialk nodded his head and knelt before me. While all the members of the party had offered fealty I could tell it had been a tentative measure at best because of the parameters of the quest.

This time though I could tell something had changed in Shialk’s mind. More like he had come to terms with the role.

“I hereby pledge allegiance to you, before the eternal shadow. I will serve you faithfully until the earth claims my bones.”

I could feel a shift between us, as magic flowed from him to me and back. It wasn’t an oath of fealty, but there was some exchange. A screen rose before me a moment later.

New Quest Received

Quest: The Court of the Dungeon Emperor

Quest Details: Unite the Seal-Bearers and reform the court of the dungeon emperor. 2 / 10.

Quest Reward: Alpha Seal of the Dungeon

I was confused why it would say I had two out of ten seal-bearers, but then I figured that one of the Threlnistari had to be bearing the seal too. I smiled slightly as I could even guess who it was.

As the quest screen a new one rose and my blood went cold.

New Quest Received

Quest: Defend the City

Quest Details: Zexestra is under assault. Protect it.

Quest Reward: Variable rewards based on efficiency.

“Well shit,” were the only words I could say as flares began rising in the distance, followed by the clamor of horns and bells.