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The bloodthirsty demon Umbra having been defeated with only minor injuries... and utterly crippling property damage incurred, Russo along with Tyr and Morgan take a well deserved rest. Or try to. For Russo anyway, prior commitments and the interference of a dark entity make that all but impossible.
Edit: Jesus Christmas, text format does not want to cooperate with me tonight.
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Selene_Eboncry
FIRST, PREVIOUS, NEXT
Chapter 28
“Dammit that stings.” Reeling at the touch of Nadie’s furred hand upon his face, Russo grit his teeth as she dabbed aloe on his burnt skin. Sitting beside him at a table bench, Tyridia nervously rubbed at the blackened fur that decorated his face. Large strands and patches of fur that had become ashy and brittle in the intense heat simply fell off at the slightest touch. A soft whine rose from his throat as blackened clumps began to accumulate in his lap.
“Your fur will grow back Tyridia, there’s no need to fuss,” Nadie gently stated as she dipped a finger into a small clay jar resting atop the table. Swirling her digit about the sides of the jar, she heard the fox let out a tired sigh. Morgan leaned over from the other side of the table to pat the vulpine on the back. Shaking her head the panther turned her attention back to the human as she pulled her finger from the clay receptacle, her furry digit now covered with an icy cold green gel. “And as for you,” she plainly stated as she raised her eyebrows and locked eyes with Russo, “your skin will heal eventually. The burns don’t appear to have been that severe and this aloe should sooth the pain.” Slathering the gel across his cheeks and nose, the mage shivered at the sensation. After tending to Russo’s burns Nadie turned her attention to the table as a whole. “Ignoring the crippling property damage, color me impressed, you three pulled off something mighty impressive today. Defeating a demon is no small feat,” The panther said with pride in her voice as she beamed down at the ragged and tired trio. “Coming away from such an encounter with only minor injuries to show for it is unheard of to boot. Good job!”
“Woah woah woah wait you’re not going to rag on me at all?” Russo asked utterly astounded as Nadie chuckled at him and smiled softly. “Considering the fact that Umbra followed me here you could easily lay blame at my feet.”
“If you want to take the blame and be held accountable for all the damage Umbra wrought then by all means I can arrange for that.”
“Uhhh I-I’m good.”
“Thought as much,” Nadie smirked as she plopped a large furred hand atop his head. “Besides, I ought to be thanking you three as well. With Umbra incapacitated, ideally I’ll be able to learn more about demons than any other scholar has. This could turn out to be an unbelievable boon for my research!” She began to tussle Russo’s hair, the human groaning in response. “And better yet I’ll have an assistant here for another week or so yet. Your assistance with helping me make leaps and strides into the studies of demons and their connection with dark magic will be greatly appreciated. That and your injuries easily should have healed up by then,” Nadie stated reassuringly as she patted Russo on the back.
“Speaking of injuries, you probably ought to summon Xis back out to let him know you’re alright Tyr,” Morgan nudged the fox. “He was pretty worried about you before he disappeared.”
“I get the feeling he’s just going to give me grief,” Tyr grumbled as he hesitantly poked at his right cheek. Strands of singed fur tumbled down onto his chest. “He hates returning to the spirit realm for any reason other than he felt like it. Being beaten up the point where he can’t maintain physical form in the mortal realm ranks up there for him.”
One of Morgan’s ears flicked beneath her hood as her shoulders sank. “You’re probably right, but still… he does deserve to know you’re okay.” Leaning his head back, Tyridia closed his eyes and breathed deeply, letting out a deep sigh.
“I suppose…” His eyes still closed, the fox let out measured breaths as magic began to gather upon them. Dancing upon his digits, tiny orbs of energy circled around his hand. Slowly the tingling feelings retracted out from the tips of his furry fingers to the palm of his hand. A gentle warmth and weight pressed down upon his palm. Instinctively, the fox’s senses were drawn to a tingle upon his snout. A pale white diamond patch of fur glowed through his darkened visage as the orb of energy coalescing in his furry grip vanished.
“Tyridia, you are unharmed! Mostly.” Xis poked the fox with his pointed red and white muzzle. “Dwelling on it further, you are not quite unharmed so much as you are well done.”
“By the off chance should you find yourself curious as to how Tyridia is standing before you, the human at the table may be able to enlighten you,” Nadie casually mentioned as she looked down at the kitsune.
“Fire proof,” Russo curtly stated as he grabbed the hem of his cloak and waved it about. Xis made a passing glance at the human before turning his attention back to Tyridia.
“Such outside help would have been wholly unnecessary had you behaved in a remotely competent manner. Staring up foolishly at an incoming attack is not conducive to your wellbeing. You should have known enough to have retreated at my command.”
“Oh would you piss off you ethereal asswipe,” Russo mumbled as he leaned back against the table and moved to scratch his chin. He cringed at the surge of stinging pain that bolted through his body at the touch. He took to feverishly clenching at the table to keep his hands from wandering. The aloe really wasn’t helping much. “You can boast all you like about how you would and should behave in such and such a situation, but all the speculation is pointless when confronted with the real thing. So Tyridia panicked, big deal, I was there to get him out of that mess. Which is more than you can say.” Russo furrowed his brows and locked stares with the kitsune. Xis, more than willing to reciprocate the gesture, glared back at him. A low and guttural growl crawled out from the kitsune’s throat as he struggled to bite his tongue.
“Suffice to say,” the spirit angrily started as he continued glaring at Russo. “… Your presence is greatly preferred to your absence,” he weakly tapered off as he turned to Tyridia.
“I, umm… the sentiment is appreciated Xis,” Tyr shyly responded, thrown for a loop by the kitsune’s reluctant confession of attachment.
“Nice to see someone put him in his place,” Morgan mentally quipped as she turned an eye to Russo. The mage wasn’t all bad, he did have some redeeming qualities. Some. Buried deep beneath all that cockiness and idiocy that seemed to dominate his personality perhaps, but they were there.
“…It puts me at ease to see that you are more or less unscathed as well, Morgan,” Xis barely said above a whisper. The raccoon’s eyes darted towards the kitsune and she smiled faintly. Xis’ flustered and hesitant acknowledgement of having taken a shining to them was absolutely adorable. Turning his head about every which way, the four legged fox did his best to avoid taking in Morgan’s smile. “What became of the demon that hounded you?”
“No need to worry, she’s been restrained and locked away in a guestroom down-” Nadie was cut off as the basement door slammed open and fearful guild members scrambled back away. Ropes dangling from around her left wrist, her wings crumpled and bent out of shape, Umbra stood at the door trembling.
“We’re not done here…” she stuttered out as she held her left hand across her stomach, blood trickling between her fingers out from the crackling scabs that had already formed. The ropes stained red with her moist life blood, the demon slowly began shuffling towards the group.
“What is she, fucking indestructible!?” Russo shrieked as the trio rose to their feet.
“Hmmm, I suppose I did overlook the fact she could simply claw through rope. I’ll probably need to use iron chains next time,” Nadie thought out loud as she pulled up her sleeves. “Could you all stand back for a moment?” The panther politely inquired as she knelt before the table.
“I fail to see whoah my goodness,” Russo blurted out as the table rose and the benches used as seating were shoved to the side. Bending with her knees, the looming panthress grunted as she dug her claws into the wooden supports. The muscles on her legs and arms rippled and bulged, easily showing through her tight fitting long sleeve shirt and pants. Hoisting the table overhead, Nadie slowly turned around to face Umbra, who along with Tyr, Russo, Morgan, Xis and everyone else in the damned guild stared slack jawed at the spectacle. “Is this normal for her?”
Tyridia silently nodded. “Even though we know expect it, that still doesn’t stop it from surprising us,” Morgan muttered as she pulled down her hood. Before she could finish mouthing some sort of expletive the table Nadie was holding slammed down upon Umbra, smashing her into the floor. Black wings stuck out from beneath the wooden slab and twitched intermittently. A muffled and painful groan traveled through the furniture turned improvised weapon.
“Didn’t you just say coming away from an encounter with a demon with minor injuries is unheard of?” Russo stated in a dull tone as he stared at the scene. Had she actually been around this morning, would it be unreasonable to believe she probably would have ripped a house right off its fucking foundations and smacked Umbra out of the air with it? Probably not.
“Doesn’t mean it can’t be done,” she cheekily shot back as the panther walked over to the carnage and stomped upon the bat like wings twitching beneath her. “Ought to be that much more difficult for her to run off now, even should she escape again.” A muffled scream struggled to be heard in response.
“…Yeah I’m just gonna get back to work on that research now.” Russo mumbled as he grasped at straws for an excuse to bail. Even with his best magic and gear he could barely scratch Umbra. On a whim, Nadie utterly wrecked aforementioned demon’s shit with common dining room furniture. Weak and useless were two words that immediately came to mind when he tried to compare himself to the aging guild master. If he continued to stick around he was sure he could come up with some other demeaning adjectives to describe himself. As he hurried down the stairs towards the basement he realized the panther had yet to come upon the mess he had made in her office. For the briefest of moments Russo contemplated the efficacy of locking the library door behind him after he entered. He decided against it when he realized Nadie would probably kick down the door, and the wall surrounding it, if she was even marginally interested in chewing him out. No need to make her entrance any more unnecessarily terrifying. Hours passed in the library without interruption. Russo hadn’t the faintest idea how many more passed after he closed his eyes one moment, only to find himself splayed out the stone floor the next. These blackouts were getting really old really fast.
“I think now might be a good time for bed,” he thought as he stared up at the ceiling, his eyes dimly focusing on the lights twinkling above him. Those damned illumination crystals made it so that he would never want for light in the library and worse yet could toil away during all hours of the day. Moaning tiredly, he gently rubbed the sleep from his eyes and rolled over on to his side. Russo’s fumbling hands reached towards a table, his fingers struggling to maintain their grip on the side of it as he rose to his feet. Lurching towards the exit, his body heavily swayed to and fro as his mind’s command over his limbs deteriorated. Bumbling out into the subterranean hallways, Russo fought valiantly to keep his eyelids open as he fell forward into a wall. His shoulder bumped against the smooth stone as he slowly slid down towards the ground. Shifting his stance, the mage pressed more of his weight into the wall in a lazy attempt to let friction catch him and hold him up. It worked, luckily. Closing his eyes for but a moment, the human let out an ear-splitting yawn as he gauged the comfort level of his current setup. It would be a couple more minutes before he eventually came to the conclusion that it sucked. Still, that didn’t provide enough incentive for him to crack his eyes open or consider moving.
“Dammit, that rematch took a lot out of me… even though I hardly did anything,” Russo mentally griped as he let his head softly bonk against the wall. “Shit. Maybe going for a broad but shallow understanding magic was a fucking waste of time for all these years…” It had been nearly three years now since he had first met Umbra. That first confrontation consisted entirely of him running away. In the interim the mage had been studious and committed to his magic training. It was practically the only thing he ever put any amount of effort into. The results of his commitment had yielded no concrete results seeing as how all he had done this time was run as well. “Some progress,” he thought contemptuously as he bonked his head against the wall once more. Furrowing his brows, he reluctantly opened his eyes. “The best magic spells I could even hope to whip up given the circumstances were damn bee stings to her, which Umbra shook off like they were nothing. I suppose it could be considered a silver lining though, seeing as how I left her disappointed and infuriated by the fact. Psychotic bitch was hankering for a fi-” Russo’s mental fatigue began to clear up as he began to frantically claw through his thoughts. “Fight… A fight my doppelganger promised her?” Given how much weird shit had been going on lately, it was something he’d rather not take his chances with. Pushing himself off from the wall with his left arm, the mage uneasily steadied his stance. Shaking off his exhaustion the best he could, the human was met with limited results. Sighing unhappily he began to trudge down the hallway, a hand pressed against the wall as his gloved fingers slid across the smooth but uneven surface. Nadie had mentioned something about confining Umbra to a spare guest room earlier. Right? A makeshift sign plastered across a door he passed by on his way to his room, that he quickly backed up to take a gander at, validated his guess as being correct. He strained his eyes as he struggled to read the message scrawled across the sign, the candles in the hallway providing lackluster lighting.
DANGER
EXTREMELY DANGEROUS DEMON HOUSED WITHIN
ENTRY IS LIMITED TO THE GUILD MASTER AND APPROVED MEMBERS ONLY
With trepidation Russo stepped towards the door and put his ear to it. The faint sound of chains rattling registered in to his auditory senses. Turning back to look over his shoulder he peered down the hallway and listened. The basement was deathly quiet. No doors creaking open, no footsteps reverberating against the stone floor, no claws scratching against stone. Turning towards the other direction he was rewarded with more of the same. Quickly glancing over his shoulder once more, Russo tried the door handle and it opened without any resistance. “Nadie is far too damn trusting putting her in these guest rooms,” he mused as he stealthily slid inside. Her office was the only damn room down here that even had locks on it and well… crap not anymore. Grinding his teeth, Russo did his best to ignore the fact he was responsible for the current and woefully unsafe setup. Pressing his back against the door as soon as he cleared it, the mage found himself smothered by darkness. A soft blue light burst to life in his palm as he began to gather magic for a basic ice spell. Holding his hand out before him, a blue pallor fell onto the room. A few paces before him, bound to a chair by layer after layer of iron chains, was Umbra. Her head hanging low, she swung it from side to side, rattling the chains slightly in the process. The iron links sparkled under the blue glow of his ice spell, the colored light radiating out from them illuminated bits and pieces of Umbra’s form. Her wings were broken and bent horribly out of shape and draped uselessly behind her back to the floor. Russo struggled to get a better look at her but knew better than to approach her. The parts of her that escaped illumination looked like they simply bled out and merged with the all-encompassing darkness in the room. Growling weakly, the demon raised her head and looked towards the mage. Those yellow eyes of hers glowed brightly in the darkness and prompted Russo to plaster himself against the door.
“The hell do you want?” Umbra’s tone was tired and low. Russo remained quiet as he focused on the yellow orbs bouncing before him in the darkness. Every so often they would disappear for a fleeting moment as the demon blinked. The longer Russo held his tongue, the more he noticed how the orbs gradually began to change in shape as Umbra’s brows flattened the tops. With time they proceeded to slant downwards into what was surely a look of disapproval. “Well?” She didn’t even have the energy to force an angry or impatient tone.
Pushing aside his fatigue just long enough to maintain what masqueraded as coherent thought, Russo began to speak. “I have a question for you.”
“About what?” Jesus, she was actually being somewhat compliant. Nadie must have really whaled on her.
“Earlier today, when you were giving me shit about teleporting all over the place, you said something about a doppelganger. What do you know about him?”
“Don’t berate me like this you fu-”
“Do you really think I’d be sneaking in here to have you repeat something I already know?” Russo watched on curiously as the yellow orbs lost their slant. The tops of Umbra’s eyes flattened as a sigh could be heard. “What do you know about him?”
“For the sake of accelerating the plot I believe I’m going to interrupt here. Trust me, you’re not going to get much out of her.” A familiar voice snickered as both Russo and Umbra’s eyes went wide.
“Oh shit,” Russo dreadfully stated as the demon’s now purely circular yellow orbs flitted side to side. Hoping to avoid a repeat of last time he grabbed for the door handle and tried to throw himself back out into the hallway.
“Ah ah ah,” Chuckling gleefully an unseen tentacle coiled around Russo’s legs and pulled him to the ground. “I’m feeling chatty today and your presence is requested.” The magic in Russo’s hands disappeared as he smacked into the ground, eliminating the only source of light in the room. Flailing about as he was dragged along the floor in the lightless room, the human desperately tried to grab onto something, anything.
“No, no, no, not again!” Russo screamed as he felt himself being pulled down into the depths. His screams were stifled as a tentacle wrapped itself around his mouth and bent his head back. Violently shaking about to and fro, Russo writhed about uselessly as he was effortlessly pulled down to the abyss.
“Hmmph, I’ll leave you be for now, demon. You performed adequately,” the god of darkness stated indifferently as his presence vanished in an instant. Once more Umbra was left to herself, as if the damnable mage had never entered. Her otherworldly eyes had tracked him the entire time and his disappearance left her rattling in her confines. Every so often there were whispers amongst demons, whispers of an unfathomably powerful darkness that utterly consumed and destroyed others like them on a whim. Those who paid the ramblings any heed could never settle on a probable cause. Be it overreliance on dark magic, killing too much, not killing enough, no one reason could be agreed upon. It was unlikely that any demon thought or so much as fathomed that the darkness itself was sentient or that there was an entity powerful enough to be capable of such acts. Whatever it was that had just whisked away the human, it controlled darkness itself and could assume practically whatever form it pleased. Umbra quaked in her chains as her mind reeled at the prospect of determining just what she had been dealing with. She sincerely hoped the rumors and that thing were unrelated.
“Admittedly your performance left much to be desired, but nevertheless you somehow orchestrated quite a show,” A smirking and jagged maw accosted the relatively diminutive human as he was dangled about in the infinite abyss. Much like before, darkness spread out seemingly forever in every direction. Every so often a jet black tentacle could be seen flitting or coiling about, oftentimes only when directly contrasted against the mage’s own clothing. The god chuckled as he watched Russo squirm in his grasp. “Oh come now, you know that struggling won’t do you any good. Relax human, we’ve got much to discuss.” The various tentacles wrapped around Russo loosened their grip as many more swarmed about beneath him and began to compress together and latch onto one another. Forming a crisscross weave of sorts, Russo was gently dropped down onto the fleshy and makeshift surface. “Like any proper host, I’ll be the bigger man here and break the ice with a conversation topic.” Yelling in surprise, Russo fell back on his ass as he had his own corpse shoved into his face by a stray tentacle.
“What the hell is that!?” He shrieked as he kicked at the abomination dangled before him. Wincing at the sight, Russo couldn’t look away from what appeared to be his hollowed out and desecrated corpse. The entire right eye socket was just gone as was the entire left cheek and portions of its jaw. Cracks spread out all along the face and the human shuddered as tentacles slithered out of its/his hollowed out left eye cavity.
“Don’t you recognize it? It’s you!” The god replied excitedly as he lobbed the figure onto Russo. Screaming, the mage shoved himself off of his body and kicked away at it frantically, his feet piercing right through its hollow and porcelain like chest. “I’m rather proud of the craftsmanship if I do say so myself. That demon certainly acknowledged the superior quality of my work. Stupid thing couldn’t tell the difference between the facsimile and the original.”
“That was you?!” Indignation spilled out from his voice as Russo rose to his feet and glared at the monstrous set of teeth hovering before him.
“Hmm? Ah, are you referring to your so called doppelganger? I clearly stated that I was going to invest in your life’s story so to speak, did I not?”
“By going around pretending to be me?!”
“Indeed.” Curled up into a shit eating grin the teeth taunted the mage. “Make no mistake, I had my reasons. If it will curtail your whining, I made my presence known only to that demon.”
“Well what were your reasons?” Russo dared to ask as he felt his thumping heart subside. Shuddering, he turned away from that… thing lying beside him and scooted towards the edge of the fleshy platform.
“The sole purpose of my interference was to force your confrontation with Umbra at a greatly accelerated pace. For too long you’ve been engaging in battles on your own terms and that format has grown stale to me. Forcing you into a confrontation at a pace you’re not comfortable with and at the enemy’s whims was a spectacle I deemed to be far more enjoyable.”
“I could have died!”
“I’m well aware. My entertainment isn’t entirely contingent upon your survival you know. By all means, watching you be incinerated or better yet disemboweled then strangled with your own entrails would have been just as pleasing as what you pulled off today. Granted, had you perished I would have been a tad perturbed that you turned out to be such a short term investment, but fortunately that wasn’t the case.” Looking out over the platform to distract himself however minutely from… ugh this was fucking painful to say… ‘Dark’s’ ramblings, Russo was greeted with the depthless abyss he had wearyingly begun to grow accustomed to. “The more I watch you the more I realize you have an uncanny knack for manipulating the smallest and most trivial events to your favor, oftentimes without even knowing it! It’s astounding really, seeing what particularly far reaching consequences even the most insignificant of actions that you and others partake in have on your life. Perhaps that’s a feature I should make better use of in the future.” Piercing into the Russo copy’s back with a tendril, the god lifted it off the ground and set it upon its feet.
Wobbling upon his own two feet, Russo approached the facsimile and
punched it as hard as he was able. His fist traveled right through what remained of its chest and inertia carried his meaty fist through its back as well. Ripping his appendage out of the monstrosity before him, its shoulders began to cave in as the mockery of a human body rapidly began collapsing in on itself. Dropping to the ground and crumbling to pieces beneath his feet, the mage grunted as he stomped upon the fragments, unable to tolerate the sight of that thing any longer. The patchwork floor of tendrils readily absorbed and scarfed down the pieces, the very presence of Russo’s copy utterly annihilated in the process.
“Not terribly receptive to that suggestion are we?” A snicker accompanied Dark’s commentary as a cluster of tentacles knotted together before Russo and began pulsating as they swelled in size. “How about this then?” Slithering about one another, the tentacles slowly dispersed to reveal a figure that aroused a peculiar emotion from the human. It wasn’t one of shock or of fear or even loathing. No, to put it more accurately, it was more of a fluid mix between disgust and murderous rage. Slumped upon the ground before him but slowly being lifted to a standing position, was a replica of Jem. Save for the empty eye cavities that offered a look into the black and soulless hollows within, it was nigh indistinguishable from the fur in question. Coiling a tendril around the Jem replicas neck, Dark began to speak. “Another fine piece of work if I do say so myself. After some practice, I’ll be replicating his mannerisms and behaviors without fail. Keh, I’m sure not even you will be able to tell your companion apart from yours truly once I’ve donned his skin. I see a lot of potential utilizing this,” Dark beamed with arrogant pride as those teeth curled back up into that Cheshire grin of his.
Trembling, Russo grinded his teeth as an unfamiliar fury rattled his body. “Jem’s ears aren’t pricked… they’re floppy.” A dozen or so tendrils rose from the platform and began to snake around the furry doppelganger’s limbs. Flicking at the creation’s ears, Dark could be heard hmming in displeasure. Simultaneously slithering into the empty eye cavities and burrowing into the fake Jem’s skull, the jet black tentacles tore it apart from inside and out. Splitting apart and diverging into hundreds if not thousands of tinier threads, the invading appendages began to coil together and reform the facsimile’s every facial feature, down to the floppy ears.
“So they are. Good catch human, I had neglected to take into account that he was a mutt not a purebred. That diversity is part of what makes you mortals so interesting to observe but occasionally I find such minute details pointless and un-” His mental faculties rapidly failing, Russo didn’t even recall channeling such preposterous amounts of magical energy as something resembling a righteous fury seethed out from him. Magical energies cooked in his hands as he clenched his fists tight and glared at the mockery standing before him as he embraced the tunnel vision overtaking him. Completely phasing out every word the dark god uttered, Russo raised an arm and held it out in front of him. Palm facing the blasphemous attack on his best friend’s very existence and dignity, a torrent of unfocused magic cascaded out towards it, utterly annihilating it and the platform beneath it. “Struck a nerve, have I?” Laughing hysterically, the entity regaled himself with how easy it was to bait the mortal along. The hysterics were cut off without warning as another burst of magic slammed into his pearly whites. Even though the sheer size of Dark’s maw made for an easy target, the mage’s lack of focus saw to it that only a portion of the spell met its intended target. The rest of it spread about in every which direction, the fleshy platform torn apart by what was basically a shotgun blast of magic. Various streaks of blazing magic that had completely missed their target went whirling off into the abyss. Hardly damaging but supremely effective at commanding attention, Russo found himself staring up at Dark’s maw; resolutely holding his ground and defiantly making his displeasure and lack of cooperation known.
In an uncharacteristically austere display Dark dropped the smile, the first time Russo had seen him do so. “…Consider this your only warning,” Dark solemnly stated as the tendrils comprising the platform began to disappear beneath him. “Know. Your. Place.” Before his senses even had time to react, a tentacle as thick as Russo was tall barreled into him from out of the depths. The human’s senses aborted as he was sent sailing through the air. Ears ringing and his vision blurred, Russo’s body and mind went numb as he spiraled about like a ragdoll. All necessary input having been ripped away: sight, sound, feeling; the mortal’s brain conceded defeat. Having given up on what would be considered crucial tasks such as trying to orient his body position or maintaining an awareness of self, it was likely for the best his brain ceased caring. Body betraying him, Russo twirled through the air in a dulled shock as spittle flew forth from his mouth. Unfeeling and unaware of his surroundings, the sensation of a tendril coiling around his leg and violently whipping him back and forth didn’t even register to him. Forceful enough to get his point across yet gentle enough to not snap his neck, Dark took rare pleasure in reminding the lesser being of the pecking order. Flicking upwards with perhaps a smidgen more force than necessary, Dark sent the human ascending at suicidal speeds.
“Earlier you remarked how you could have died as a result of my interference. You know what? Let’s talk hypotheticals. Let us discuss and pick apart all the scenarios that could just as easily have befallen you, with or without my meddling.” Reverberating all around him, Dark’s voice could be heard as Russo’s ascent came to halt. “Had you not broken into that panther’s office to fetch what turned out to be entirely useless proof of your claims, what do you think would have happened?” Russo remained silent as he flailed about uselessly in the air as gravity got off its ass and began doing its job. “That spineless fox likely wouldn’t have run out to alert that raccoon he pines for. And had he not done that, I ascertain that she very well would have died. Be it having her tongue torn out and throat ripped apart or simply having her chest carved open, that demon would have ended her life one way or another. What then though?” Russo wheezed faintly as he approached terminal velocity, his cloak and hair flapping about as he descended. “Her presence made known, all subtlety and caution would be tossed into the wind. Aghast at the slaying of his friend, that fox and his kitsune would surely come roaring onto the scene. Out of a sense of guilt, maybe, you would contribute your efforts, seeing as how the spilt blood was partially your fault. How it all proceeds from there is uncertain. Do you warn the kitsune in time about that labrador’s affinity for fire magic? If you do, you stand a feasible chance at defeating the beast! If you don’t, keh heh heh, oh that would be quite the bloodbath to revel in. I could droll on about the finer details but I believe you get the point.” Wrapping around his limbs gently, a mass of tentacles ever so lightly pulled upward upon Russo’s limp body, gradually nullifying gravity’s effects.
“Oh but the speculation gets even better when we pause to consider what could have happened had I not interfered!” The mage’s eyes fluttered as he was laid to rest upon a weave of tentacles. “Mimicking your appearance, I engaged the demon in small talk. After clearing up some… misunderstandings, I provided her directly with information about your current location.” A malicious grin comprised of gnarled teeth, each tooth hundreds of feet tall, appeared above Russo. “Now how do you think she would have gone about acquiring that information without my assistance? Loose lips relayed to her that you were a member of your local guild so I wager she would start there. Ignoring any dead ends and bodies that would pile up from interrogating the wrong individuals, she would eventually hone in on one of the few people that could provide her with useful information. Would it be the wolf, the collie, or perhaps even the old man? Now we’re delving into a realm determined entirely by chance. Even though I can’t claim to know with absolute confidence whom she would have set her sights on, I can still reasonably infer what their fates would have been had she.”
The black void that was the abyss began to be usurped by the back of Russo’s eyelids as sleep began to overtake him. Violently shaken to attention, Russo was denied the reprieve from Dark’s lecture that otherwise would have been afforded by unconsciousness. “The wolf and the old man? Highly dubious that either of them would have survived had the demon come sauntering their way. Powerful he may be, that master of yours is not properly equipped to confront a demon of her type. And the wolf? That admiration and devotion of his to your guild would have been his undoing. Terrified at the prospect of being exiled once more, he could be expected to refuse to make use of his gigantic stature. His self-imposed constraints effortlessly squelching any hopes of surviving, he would most assuredly fall to the demon once he ceased being useful. As for the collie… his lot is much more difficult to determine. He wouldn’t come away from such an encounter unscathed, that much I can assure you.” Some semblance of rational thought and brain function began to return to the human in fits and spurts as the god shook him intermittently. “After she acquired the necessary information, whatever the source, she would depart at most a day or two later than she originally had. Due to the multitude of influences and factors involved, I can’t accurately peg whether or not you would survive. Nevertheless,” Dark’s expansive and maniacal grin loomed ever closer above the battered mortal, “had you even survived that encounter, the open arms of the slaughtered and debilitated would greet you upon your return.”
Aside from blinking, Russo could do little more than that as the entity’s diatribe washed over him. “Phrased another way, had I not been so willing to force you into battle only days earlier than would have naturally occurred, before you would have had the opportunity to familiarize yourself with fairly easy to comprehend equipment, you would have returned to a home in shambles. Had you even survived that is. …Still so eager to be rid of me, human?” Swallowing hard, the mage remained silent as Dark’s blank visage danced overhead. “No response? Nothing? Come now, what happened to that mouthiness of yours?” Agonizingly and with great effort expended on his end, Russo bit his lip. Sneering, Dark’s smug mug circled him like a vulture. “Know what, human? I’ll cut you a deal. You offer me up that left arm of yours, and the life of one of your beloved colleagues, and I will cease to interfere with your life completely. After all, there’s a good chance one of them would have died had it not been for me. Do we have an agreement?” Chest rising and falling with his strained breaths, Russo remained hushed as Dark’s teeth hovered before him and curled back into a Cheshire grin. “Well?” Lips quivering, Russo barely shook his head from side to side; a feat that required what felt like an inhuman amount of effort. “Thought as much,” Dark replied contemptuously as the weave of tendrils began to sag beneath Russo’s weight as they loosened their grip upon one another. “Well then Russo, looks like you and I are in this for the long haul. You’d do well to commit to memory the power dynamics of our relationship, especially considering you just squandered your grace period.” Dispersing nigh instantaneously, Russo once more found himself falling into the darkness as his safety net of tendrils vanished beneath him. “I’ll be keeping in touch,” the god’s voice echoed in the lightless void. Closing his eyes, Russo struggled to take in a deep breath as his mind began to wander. The human’s eyes painfully slammed open but a moment later as he landed on his guest bed, eliciting an audible flump from the feather filled sleeping arrangement in the process. Too exhausted to gripe or even moan on a mental, much less physical level, the mage closed his eyes once more, finally drifting off to sleep.
FIRST, PREVIOUS, NEXT
Edit: Jesus Christmas, text format does not want to cooperate with me tonight.
Icon is © to
Selene_EboncryFIRST, PREVIOUS, NEXT
Chapter 28
“Dammit that stings.” Reeling at the touch of Nadie’s furred hand upon his face, Russo grit his teeth as she dabbed aloe on his burnt skin. Sitting beside him at a table bench, Tyridia nervously rubbed at the blackened fur that decorated his face. Large strands and patches of fur that had become ashy and brittle in the intense heat simply fell off at the slightest touch. A soft whine rose from his throat as blackened clumps began to accumulate in his lap.
“Your fur will grow back Tyridia, there’s no need to fuss,” Nadie gently stated as she dipped a finger into a small clay jar resting atop the table. Swirling her digit about the sides of the jar, she heard the fox let out a tired sigh. Morgan leaned over from the other side of the table to pat the vulpine on the back. Shaking her head the panther turned her attention back to the human as she pulled her finger from the clay receptacle, her furry digit now covered with an icy cold green gel. “And as for you,” she plainly stated as she raised her eyebrows and locked eyes with Russo, “your skin will heal eventually. The burns don’t appear to have been that severe and this aloe should sooth the pain.” Slathering the gel across his cheeks and nose, the mage shivered at the sensation. After tending to Russo’s burns Nadie turned her attention to the table as a whole. “Ignoring the crippling property damage, color me impressed, you three pulled off something mighty impressive today. Defeating a demon is no small feat,” The panther said with pride in her voice as she beamed down at the ragged and tired trio. “Coming away from such an encounter with only minor injuries to show for it is unheard of to boot. Good job!”
“Woah woah woah wait you’re not going to rag on me at all?” Russo asked utterly astounded as Nadie chuckled at him and smiled softly. “Considering the fact that Umbra followed me here you could easily lay blame at my feet.”
“If you want to take the blame and be held accountable for all the damage Umbra wrought then by all means I can arrange for that.”
“Uhhh I-I’m good.”
“Thought as much,” Nadie smirked as she plopped a large furred hand atop his head. “Besides, I ought to be thanking you three as well. With Umbra incapacitated, ideally I’ll be able to learn more about demons than any other scholar has. This could turn out to be an unbelievable boon for my research!” She began to tussle Russo’s hair, the human groaning in response. “And better yet I’ll have an assistant here for another week or so yet. Your assistance with helping me make leaps and strides into the studies of demons and their connection with dark magic will be greatly appreciated. That and your injuries easily should have healed up by then,” Nadie stated reassuringly as she patted Russo on the back.
“Speaking of injuries, you probably ought to summon Xis back out to let him know you’re alright Tyr,” Morgan nudged the fox. “He was pretty worried about you before he disappeared.”
“I get the feeling he’s just going to give me grief,” Tyr grumbled as he hesitantly poked at his right cheek. Strands of singed fur tumbled down onto his chest. “He hates returning to the spirit realm for any reason other than he felt like it. Being beaten up the point where he can’t maintain physical form in the mortal realm ranks up there for him.”
One of Morgan’s ears flicked beneath her hood as her shoulders sank. “You’re probably right, but still… he does deserve to know you’re okay.” Leaning his head back, Tyridia closed his eyes and breathed deeply, letting out a deep sigh.
“I suppose…” His eyes still closed, the fox let out measured breaths as magic began to gather upon them. Dancing upon his digits, tiny orbs of energy circled around his hand. Slowly the tingling feelings retracted out from the tips of his furry fingers to the palm of his hand. A gentle warmth and weight pressed down upon his palm. Instinctively, the fox’s senses were drawn to a tingle upon his snout. A pale white diamond patch of fur glowed through his darkened visage as the orb of energy coalescing in his furry grip vanished.
“Tyridia, you are unharmed! Mostly.” Xis poked the fox with his pointed red and white muzzle. “Dwelling on it further, you are not quite unharmed so much as you are well done.”
“By the off chance should you find yourself curious as to how Tyridia is standing before you, the human at the table may be able to enlighten you,” Nadie casually mentioned as she looked down at the kitsune.
“Fire proof,” Russo curtly stated as he grabbed the hem of his cloak and waved it about. Xis made a passing glance at the human before turning his attention back to Tyridia.
“Such outside help would have been wholly unnecessary had you behaved in a remotely competent manner. Staring up foolishly at an incoming attack is not conducive to your wellbeing. You should have known enough to have retreated at my command.”
“Oh would you piss off you ethereal asswipe,” Russo mumbled as he leaned back against the table and moved to scratch his chin. He cringed at the surge of stinging pain that bolted through his body at the touch. He took to feverishly clenching at the table to keep his hands from wandering. The aloe really wasn’t helping much. “You can boast all you like about how you would and should behave in such and such a situation, but all the speculation is pointless when confronted with the real thing. So Tyridia panicked, big deal, I was there to get him out of that mess. Which is more than you can say.” Russo furrowed his brows and locked stares with the kitsune. Xis, more than willing to reciprocate the gesture, glared back at him. A low and guttural growl crawled out from the kitsune’s throat as he struggled to bite his tongue.
“Suffice to say,” the spirit angrily started as he continued glaring at Russo. “… Your presence is greatly preferred to your absence,” he weakly tapered off as he turned to Tyridia.
“I, umm… the sentiment is appreciated Xis,” Tyr shyly responded, thrown for a loop by the kitsune’s reluctant confession of attachment.
“Nice to see someone put him in his place,” Morgan mentally quipped as she turned an eye to Russo. The mage wasn’t all bad, he did have some redeeming qualities. Some. Buried deep beneath all that cockiness and idiocy that seemed to dominate his personality perhaps, but they were there.
“…It puts me at ease to see that you are more or less unscathed as well, Morgan,” Xis barely said above a whisper. The raccoon’s eyes darted towards the kitsune and she smiled faintly. Xis’ flustered and hesitant acknowledgement of having taken a shining to them was absolutely adorable. Turning his head about every which way, the four legged fox did his best to avoid taking in Morgan’s smile. “What became of the demon that hounded you?”
“No need to worry, she’s been restrained and locked away in a guestroom down-” Nadie was cut off as the basement door slammed open and fearful guild members scrambled back away. Ropes dangling from around her left wrist, her wings crumpled and bent out of shape, Umbra stood at the door trembling.
“We’re not done here…” she stuttered out as she held her left hand across her stomach, blood trickling between her fingers out from the crackling scabs that had already formed. The ropes stained red with her moist life blood, the demon slowly began shuffling towards the group.
“What is she, fucking indestructible!?” Russo shrieked as the trio rose to their feet.
“Hmmm, I suppose I did overlook the fact she could simply claw through rope. I’ll probably need to use iron chains next time,” Nadie thought out loud as she pulled up her sleeves. “Could you all stand back for a moment?” The panther politely inquired as she knelt before the table.
“I fail to see whoah my goodness,” Russo blurted out as the table rose and the benches used as seating were shoved to the side. Bending with her knees, the looming panthress grunted as she dug her claws into the wooden supports. The muscles on her legs and arms rippled and bulged, easily showing through her tight fitting long sleeve shirt and pants. Hoisting the table overhead, Nadie slowly turned around to face Umbra, who along with Tyr, Russo, Morgan, Xis and everyone else in the damned guild stared slack jawed at the spectacle. “Is this normal for her?”
Tyridia silently nodded. “Even though we know expect it, that still doesn’t stop it from surprising us,” Morgan muttered as she pulled down her hood. Before she could finish mouthing some sort of expletive the table Nadie was holding slammed down upon Umbra, smashing her into the floor. Black wings stuck out from beneath the wooden slab and twitched intermittently. A muffled and painful groan traveled through the furniture turned improvised weapon.
“Didn’t you just say coming away from an encounter with a demon with minor injuries is unheard of?” Russo stated in a dull tone as he stared at the scene. Had she actually been around this morning, would it be unreasonable to believe she probably would have ripped a house right off its fucking foundations and smacked Umbra out of the air with it? Probably not.
“Doesn’t mean it can’t be done,” she cheekily shot back as the panther walked over to the carnage and stomped upon the bat like wings twitching beneath her. “Ought to be that much more difficult for her to run off now, even should she escape again.” A muffled scream struggled to be heard in response.
“…Yeah I’m just gonna get back to work on that research now.” Russo mumbled as he grasped at straws for an excuse to bail. Even with his best magic and gear he could barely scratch Umbra. On a whim, Nadie utterly wrecked aforementioned demon’s shit with common dining room furniture. Weak and useless were two words that immediately came to mind when he tried to compare himself to the aging guild master. If he continued to stick around he was sure he could come up with some other demeaning adjectives to describe himself. As he hurried down the stairs towards the basement he realized the panther had yet to come upon the mess he had made in her office. For the briefest of moments Russo contemplated the efficacy of locking the library door behind him after he entered. He decided against it when he realized Nadie would probably kick down the door, and the wall surrounding it, if she was even marginally interested in chewing him out. No need to make her entrance any more unnecessarily terrifying. Hours passed in the library without interruption. Russo hadn’t the faintest idea how many more passed after he closed his eyes one moment, only to find himself splayed out the stone floor the next. These blackouts were getting really old really fast.
“I think now might be a good time for bed,” he thought as he stared up at the ceiling, his eyes dimly focusing on the lights twinkling above him. Those damned illumination crystals made it so that he would never want for light in the library and worse yet could toil away during all hours of the day. Moaning tiredly, he gently rubbed the sleep from his eyes and rolled over on to his side. Russo’s fumbling hands reached towards a table, his fingers struggling to maintain their grip on the side of it as he rose to his feet. Lurching towards the exit, his body heavily swayed to and fro as his mind’s command over his limbs deteriorated. Bumbling out into the subterranean hallways, Russo fought valiantly to keep his eyelids open as he fell forward into a wall. His shoulder bumped against the smooth stone as he slowly slid down towards the ground. Shifting his stance, the mage pressed more of his weight into the wall in a lazy attempt to let friction catch him and hold him up. It worked, luckily. Closing his eyes for but a moment, the human let out an ear-splitting yawn as he gauged the comfort level of his current setup. It would be a couple more minutes before he eventually came to the conclusion that it sucked. Still, that didn’t provide enough incentive for him to crack his eyes open or consider moving.
“Dammit, that rematch took a lot out of me… even though I hardly did anything,” Russo mentally griped as he let his head softly bonk against the wall. “Shit. Maybe going for a broad but shallow understanding magic was a fucking waste of time for all these years…” It had been nearly three years now since he had first met Umbra. That first confrontation consisted entirely of him running away. In the interim the mage had been studious and committed to his magic training. It was practically the only thing he ever put any amount of effort into. The results of his commitment had yielded no concrete results seeing as how all he had done this time was run as well. “Some progress,” he thought contemptuously as he bonked his head against the wall once more. Furrowing his brows, he reluctantly opened his eyes. “The best magic spells I could even hope to whip up given the circumstances were damn bee stings to her, which Umbra shook off like they were nothing. I suppose it could be considered a silver lining though, seeing as how I left her disappointed and infuriated by the fact. Psychotic bitch was hankering for a fi-” Russo’s mental fatigue began to clear up as he began to frantically claw through his thoughts. “Fight… A fight my doppelganger promised her?” Given how much weird shit had been going on lately, it was something he’d rather not take his chances with. Pushing himself off from the wall with his left arm, the mage uneasily steadied his stance. Shaking off his exhaustion the best he could, the human was met with limited results. Sighing unhappily he began to trudge down the hallway, a hand pressed against the wall as his gloved fingers slid across the smooth but uneven surface. Nadie had mentioned something about confining Umbra to a spare guest room earlier. Right? A makeshift sign plastered across a door he passed by on his way to his room, that he quickly backed up to take a gander at, validated his guess as being correct. He strained his eyes as he struggled to read the message scrawled across the sign, the candles in the hallway providing lackluster lighting.
DANGER
EXTREMELY DANGEROUS DEMON HOUSED WITHIN
ENTRY IS LIMITED TO THE GUILD MASTER AND APPROVED MEMBERS ONLY
With trepidation Russo stepped towards the door and put his ear to it. The faint sound of chains rattling registered in to his auditory senses. Turning back to look over his shoulder he peered down the hallway and listened. The basement was deathly quiet. No doors creaking open, no footsteps reverberating against the stone floor, no claws scratching against stone. Turning towards the other direction he was rewarded with more of the same. Quickly glancing over his shoulder once more, Russo tried the door handle and it opened without any resistance. “Nadie is far too damn trusting putting her in these guest rooms,” he mused as he stealthily slid inside. Her office was the only damn room down here that even had locks on it and well… crap not anymore. Grinding his teeth, Russo did his best to ignore the fact he was responsible for the current and woefully unsafe setup. Pressing his back against the door as soon as he cleared it, the mage found himself smothered by darkness. A soft blue light burst to life in his palm as he began to gather magic for a basic ice spell. Holding his hand out before him, a blue pallor fell onto the room. A few paces before him, bound to a chair by layer after layer of iron chains, was Umbra. Her head hanging low, she swung it from side to side, rattling the chains slightly in the process. The iron links sparkled under the blue glow of his ice spell, the colored light radiating out from them illuminated bits and pieces of Umbra’s form. Her wings were broken and bent horribly out of shape and draped uselessly behind her back to the floor. Russo struggled to get a better look at her but knew better than to approach her. The parts of her that escaped illumination looked like they simply bled out and merged with the all-encompassing darkness in the room. Growling weakly, the demon raised her head and looked towards the mage. Those yellow eyes of hers glowed brightly in the darkness and prompted Russo to plaster himself against the door.
“The hell do you want?” Umbra’s tone was tired and low. Russo remained quiet as he focused on the yellow orbs bouncing before him in the darkness. Every so often they would disappear for a fleeting moment as the demon blinked. The longer Russo held his tongue, the more he noticed how the orbs gradually began to change in shape as Umbra’s brows flattened the tops. With time they proceeded to slant downwards into what was surely a look of disapproval. “Well?” She didn’t even have the energy to force an angry or impatient tone.
Pushing aside his fatigue just long enough to maintain what masqueraded as coherent thought, Russo began to speak. “I have a question for you.”
“About what?” Jesus, she was actually being somewhat compliant. Nadie must have really whaled on her.
“Earlier today, when you were giving me shit about teleporting all over the place, you said something about a doppelganger. What do you know about him?”
“Don’t berate me like this you fu-”
“Do you really think I’d be sneaking in here to have you repeat something I already know?” Russo watched on curiously as the yellow orbs lost their slant. The tops of Umbra’s eyes flattened as a sigh could be heard. “What do you know about him?”
“For the sake of accelerating the plot I believe I’m going to interrupt here. Trust me, you’re not going to get much out of her.” A familiar voice snickered as both Russo and Umbra’s eyes went wide.
“Oh shit,” Russo dreadfully stated as the demon’s now purely circular yellow orbs flitted side to side. Hoping to avoid a repeat of last time he grabbed for the door handle and tried to throw himself back out into the hallway.
“Ah ah ah,” Chuckling gleefully an unseen tentacle coiled around Russo’s legs and pulled him to the ground. “I’m feeling chatty today and your presence is requested.” The magic in Russo’s hands disappeared as he smacked into the ground, eliminating the only source of light in the room. Flailing about as he was dragged along the floor in the lightless room, the human desperately tried to grab onto something, anything.
“No, no, no, not again!” Russo screamed as he felt himself being pulled down into the depths. His screams were stifled as a tentacle wrapped itself around his mouth and bent his head back. Violently shaking about to and fro, Russo writhed about uselessly as he was effortlessly pulled down to the abyss.
“Hmmph, I’ll leave you be for now, demon. You performed adequately,” the god of darkness stated indifferently as his presence vanished in an instant. Once more Umbra was left to herself, as if the damnable mage had never entered. Her otherworldly eyes had tracked him the entire time and his disappearance left her rattling in her confines. Every so often there were whispers amongst demons, whispers of an unfathomably powerful darkness that utterly consumed and destroyed others like them on a whim. Those who paid the ramblings any heed could never settle on a probable cause. Be it overreliance on dark magic, killing too much, not killing enough, no one reason could be agreed upon. It was unlikely that any demon thought or so much as fathomed that the darkness itself was sentient or that there was an entity powerful enough to be capable of such acts. Whatever it was that had just whisked away the human, it controlled darkness itself and could assume practically whatever form it pleased. Umbra quaked in her chains as her mind reeled at the prospect of determining just what she had been dealing with. She sincerely hoped the rumors and that thing were unrelated.
“Admittedly your performance left much to be desired, but nevertheless you somehow orchestrated quite a show,” A smirking and jagged maw accosted the relatively diminutive human as he was dangled about in the infinite abyss. Much like before, darkness spread out seemingly forever in every direction. Every so often a jet black tentacle could be seen flitting or coiling about, oftentimes only when directly contrasted against the mage’s own clothing. The god chuckled as he watched Russo squirm in his grasp. “Oh come now, you know that struggling won’t do you any good. Relax human, we’ve got much to discuss.” The various tentacles wrapped around Russo loosened their grip as many more swarmed about beneath him and began to compress together and latch onto one another. Forming a crisscross weave of sorts, Russo was gently dropped down onto the fleshy and makeshift surface. “Like any proper host, I’ll be the bigger man here and break the ice with a conversation topic.” Yelling in surprise, Russo fell back on his ass as he had his own corpse shoved into his face by a stray tentacle.
“What the hell is that!?” He shrieked as he kicked at the abomination dangled before him. Wincing at the sight, Russo couldn’t look away from what appeared to be his hollowed out and desecrated corpse. The entire right eye socket was just gone as was the entire left cheek and portions of its jaw. Cracks spread out all along the face and the human shuddered as tentacles slithered out of its/his hollowed out left eye cavity.
“Don’t you recognize it? It’s you!” The god replied excitedly as he lobbed the figure onto Russo. Screaming, the mage shoved himself off of his body and kicked away at it frantically, his feet piercing right through its hollow and porcelain like chest. “I’m rather proud of the craftsmanship if I do say so myself. That demon certainly acknowledged the superior quality of my work. Stupid thing couldn’t tell the difference between the facsimile and the original.”
“That was you?!” Indignation spilled out from his voice as Russo rose to his feet and glared at the monstrous set of teeth hovering before him.
“Hmm? Ah, are you referring to your so called doppelganger? I clearly stated that I was going to invest in your life’s story so to speak, did I not?”
“By going around pretending to be me?!”
“Indeed.” Curled up into a shit eating grin the teeth taunted the mage. “Make no mistake, I had my reasons. If it will curtail your whining, I made my presence known only to that demon.”
“Well what were your reasons?” Russo dared to ask as he felt his thumping heart subside. Shuddering, he turned away from that… thing lying beside him and scooted towards the edge of the fleshy platform.
“The sole purpose of my interference was to force your confrontation with Umbra at a greatly accelerated pace. For too long you’ve been engaging in battles on your own terms and that format has grown stale to me. Forcing you into a confrontation at a pace you’re not comfortable with and at the enemy’s whims was a spectacle I deemed to be far more enjoyable.”
“I could have died!”
“I’m well aware. My entertainment isn’t entirely contingent upon your survival you know. By all means, watching you be incinerated or better yet disemboweled then strangled with your own entrails would have been just as pleasing as what you pulled off today. Granted, had you perished I would have been a tad perturbed that you turned out to be such a short term investment, but fortunately that wasn’t the case.” Looking out over the platform to distract himself however minutely from… ugh this was fucking painful to say… ‘Dark’s’ ramblings, Russo was greeted with the depthless abyss he had wearyingly begun to grow accustomed to. “The more I watch you the more I realize you have an uncanny knack for manipulating the smallest and most trivial events to your favor, oftentimes without even knowing it! It’s astounding really, seeing what particularly far reaching consequences even the most insignificant of actions that you and others partake in have on your life. Perhaps that’s a feature I should make better use of in the future.” Piercing into the Russo copy’s back with a tendril, the god lifted it off the ground and set it upon its feet.
Wobbling upon his own two feet, Russo approached the facsimile and
punched it as hard as he was able. His fist traveled right through what remained of its chest and inertia carried his meaty fist through its back as well. Ripping his appendage out of the monstrosity before him, its shoulders began to cave in as the mockery of a human body rapidly began collapsing in on itself. Dropping to the ground and crumbling to pieces beneath his feet, the mage grunted as he stomped upon the fragments, unable to tolerate the sight of that thing any longer. The patchwork floor of tendrils readily absorbed and scarfed down the pieces, the very presence of Russo’s copy utterly annihilated in the process.
“Not terribly receptive to that suggestion are we?” A snicker accompanied Dark’s commentary as a cluster of tentacles knotted together before Russo and began pulsating as they swelled in size. “How about this then?” Slithering about one another, the tentacles slowly dispersed to reveal a figure that aroused a peculiar emotion from the human. It wasn’t one of shock or of fear or even loathing. No, to put it more accurately, it was more of a fluid mix between disgust and murderous rage. Slumped upon the ground before him but slowly being lifted to a standing position, was a replica of Jem. Save for the empty eye cavities that offered a look into the black and soulless hollows within, it was nigh indistinguishable from the fur in question. Coiling a tendril around the Jem replicas neck, Dark began to speak. “Another fine piece of work if I do say so myself. After some practice, I’ll be replicating his mannerisms and behaviors without fail. Keh, I’m sure not even you will be able to tell your companion apart from yours truly once I’ve donned his skin. I see a lot of potential utilizing this,” Dark beamed with arrogant pride as those teeth curled back up into that Cheshire grin of his.
Trembling, Russo grinded his teeth as an unfamiliar fury rattled his body. “Jem’s ears aren’t pricked… they’re floppy.” A dozen or so tendrils rose from the platform and began to snake around the furry doppelganger’s limbs. Flicking at the creation’s ears, Dark could be heard hmming in displeasure. Simultaneously slithering into the empty eye cavities and burrowing into the fake Jem’s skull, the jet black tentacles tore it apart from inside and out. Splitting apart and diverging into hundreds if not thousands of tinier threads, the invading appendages began to coil together and reform the facsimile’s every facial feature, down to the floppy ears.
“So they are. Good catch human, I had neglected to take into account that he was a mutt not a purebred. That diversity is part of what makes you mortals so interesting to observe but occasionally I find such minute details pointless and un-” His mental faculties rapidly failing, Russo didn’t even recall channeling such preposterous amounts of magical energy as something resembling a righteous fury seethed out from him. Magical energies cooked in his hands as he clenched his fists tight and glared at the mockery standing before him as he embraced the tunnel vision overtaking him. Completely phasing out every word the dark god uttered, Russo raised an arm and held it out in front of him. Palm facing the blasphemous attack on his best friend’s very existence and dignity, a torrent of unfocused magic cascaded out towards it, utterly annihilating it and the platform beneath it. “Struck a nerve, have I?” Laughing hysterically, the entity regaled himself with how easy it was to bait the mortal along. The hysterics were cut off without warning as another burst of magic slammed into his pearly whites. Even though the sheer size of Dark’s maw made for an easy target, the mage’s lack of focus saw to it that only a portion of the spell met its intended target. The rest of it spread about in every which direction, the fleshy platform torn apart by what was basically a shotgun blast of magic. Various streaks of blazing magic that had completely missed their target went whirling off into the abyss. Hardly damaging but supremely effective at commanding attention, Russo found himself staring up at Dark’s maw; resolutely holding his ground and defiantly making his displeasure and lack of cooperation known.
In an uncharacteristically austere display Dark dropped the smile, the first time Russo had seen him do so. “…Consider this your only warning,” Dark solemnly stated as the tendrils comprising the platform began to disappear beneath him. “Know. Your. Place.” Before his senses even had time to react, a tentacle as thick as Russo was tall barreled into him from out of the depths. The human’s senses aborted as he was sent sailing through the air. Ears ringing and his vision blurred, Russo’s body and mind went numb as he spiraled about like a ragdoll. All necessary input having been ripped away: sight, sound, feeling; the mortal’s brain conceded defeat. Having given up on what would be considered crucial tasks such as trying to orient his body position or maintaining an awareness of self, it was likely for the best his brain ceased caring. Body betraying him, Russo twirled through the air in a dulled shock as spittle flew forth from his mouth. Unfeeling and unaware of his surroundings, the sensation of a tendril coiling around his leg and violently whipping him back and forth didn’t even register to him. Forceful enough to get his point across yet gentle enough to not snap his neck, Dark took rare pleasure in reminding the lesser being of the pecking order. Flicking upwards with perhaps a smidgen more force than necessary, Dark sent the human ascending at suicidal speeds.
“Earlier you remarked how you could have died as a result of my interference. You know what? Let’s talk hypotheticals. Let us discuss and pick apart all the scenarios that could just as easily have befallen you, with or without my meddling.” Reverberating all around him, Dark’s voice could be heard as Russo’s ascent came to halt. “Had you not broken into that panther’s office to fetch what turned out to be entirely useless proof of your claims, what do you think would have happened?” Russo remained silent as he flailed about uselessly in the air as gravity got off its ass and began doing its job. “That spineless fox likely wouldn’t have run out to alert that raccoon he pines for. And had he not done that, I ascertain that she very well would have died. Be it having her tongue torn out and throat ripped apart or simply having her chest carved open, that demon would have ended her life one way or another. What then though?” Russo wheezed faintly as he approached terminal velocity, his cloak and hair flapping about as he descended. “Her presence made known, all subtlety and caution would be tossed into the wind. Aghast at the slaying of his friend, that fox and his kitsune would surely come roaring onto the scene. Out of a sense of guilt, maybe, you would contribute your efforts, seeing as how the spilt blood was partially your fault. How it all proceeds from there is uncertain. Do you warn the kitsune in time about that labrador’s affinity for fire magic? If you do, you stand a feasible chance at defeating the beast! If you don’t, keh heh heh, oh that would be quite the bloodbath to revel in. I could droll on about the finer details but I believe you get the point.” Wrapping around his limbs gently, a mass of tentacles ever so lightly pulled upward upon Russo’s limp body, gradually nullifying gravity’s effects.
“Oh but the speculation gets even better when we pause to consider what could have happened had I not interfered!” The mage’s eyes fluttered as he was laid to rest upon a weave of tentacles. “Mimicking your appearance, I engaged the demon in small talk. After clearing up some… misunderstandings, I provided her directly with information about your current location.” A malicious grin comprised of gnarled teeth, each tooth hundreds of feet tall, appeared above Russo. “Now how do you think she would have gone about acquiring that information without my assistance? Loose lips relayed to her that you were a member of your local guild so I wager she would start there. Ignoring any dead ends and bodies that would pile up from interrogating the wrong individuals, she would eventually hone in on one of the few people that could provide her with useful information. Would it be the wolf, the collie, or perhaps even the old man? Now we’re delving into a realm determined entirely by chance. Even though I can’t claim to know with absolute confidence whom she would have set her sights on, I can still reasonably infer what their fates would have been had she.”
The black void that was the abyss began to be usurped by the back of Russo’s eyelids as sleep began to overtake him. Violently shaken to attention, Russo was denied the reprieve from Dark’s lecture that otherwise would have been afforded by unconsciousness. “The wolf and the old man? Highly dubious that either of them would have survived had the demon come sauntering their way. Powerful he may be, that master of yours is not properly equipped to confront a demon of her type. And the wolf? That admiration and devotion of his to your guild would have been his undoing. Terrified at the prospect of being exiled once more, he could be expected to refuse to make use of his gigantic stature. His self-imposed constraints effortlessly squelching any hopes of surviving, he would most assuredly fall to the demon once he ceased being useful. As for the collie… his lot is much more difficult to determine. He wouldn’t come away from such an encounter unscathed, that much I can assure you.” Some semblance of rational thought and brain function began to return to the human in fits and spurts as the god shook him intermittently. “After she acquired the necessary information, whatever the source, she would depart at most a day or two later than she originally had. Due to the multitude of influences and factors involved, I can’t accurately peg whether or not you would survive. Nevertheless,” Dark’s expansive and maniacal grin loomed ever closer above the battered mortal, “had you even survived that encounter, the open arms of the slaughtered and debilitated would greet you upon your return.”
Aside from blinking, Russo could do little more than that as the entity’s diatribe washed over him. “Phrased another way, had I not been so willing to force you into battle only days earlier than would have naturally occurred, before you would have had the opportunity to familiarize yourself with fairly easy to comprehend equipment, you would have returned to a home in shambles. Had you even survived that is. …Still so eager to be rid of me, human?” Swallowing hard, the mage remained silent as Dark’s blank visage danced overhead. “No response? Nothing? Come now, what happened to that mouthiness of yours?” Agonizingly and with great effort expended on his end, Russo bit his lip. Sneering, Dark’s smug mug circled him like a vulture. “Know what, human? I’ll cut you a deal. You offer me up that left arm of yours, and the life of one of your beloved colleagues, and I will cease to interfere with your life completely. After all, there’s a good chance one of them would have died had it not been for me. Do we have an agreement?” Chest rising and falling with his strained breaths, Russo remained hushed as Dark’s teeth hovered before him and curled back into a Cheshire grin. “Well?” Lips quivering, Russo barely shook his head from side to side; a feat that required what felt like an inhuman amount of effort. “Thought as much,” Dark replied contemptuously as the weave of tendrils began to sag beneath Russo’s weight as they loosened their grip upon one another. “Well then Russo, looks like you and I are in this for the long haul. You’d do well to commit to memory the power dynamics of our relationship, especially considering you just squandered your grace period.” Dispersing nigh instantaneously, Russo once more found himself falling into the darkness as his safety net of tendrils vanished beneath him. “I’ll be keeping in touch,” the god’s voice echoed in the lightless void. Closing his eyes, Russo struggled to take in a deep breath as his mind began to wander. The human’s eyes painfully slammed open but a moment later as he landed on his guest bed, eliciting an audible flump from the feather filled sleeping arrangement in the process. Too exhausted to gripe or even moan on a mental, much less physical level, the mage closed his eyes once more, finally drifting off to sleep.
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Category Story / Fantasy
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