Talarius lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. He was not sure what time it was, but he had slept for some time. Passing out drunk would do that. He did not do it often, but he had last night. He had been celebrating their victory over the Knights of Chaos, the sort of victory that he had only ever imagined in his wildest dreams. He had then drunk even more to try to wipe away the memories that Sekhmekt had shared. Those had been… he had no words, no idea how to process them. Such behavior went against everything he had been taught.
He had known that the Church and Rod had gone to bring the Light of the Five Siblings to Natoor and Najaar, yet history had been clear that the people there had been worshiping false gods, or gods long dead. Not true gods, not a recognized pantheon such as the Narveson in Norelon or the El'adasir of the alfar. Yet clearly they were real gods. Heathen yes, but not false gods.
He would like to believe it a trick, a deception by a dark goddess. It had to have been. However, the memories were so real, it was as if he had lived them himself. The depth, the details were too much. How would one fashion such a lie? Of course, given that she was a dark goddess, it had to be within her power to do such things.
When he finally escaped this place, this prison, he would need to investigate. There would be records in Justicia that could render these memories transparent as the falsehoods they so obviously had to be. He needed to clear the accursed things from his memory.
I am not so sure. A voice said in his head. Ruiden’s voice.
Why not? Talarius asked, surprised that the sword had been listening to his thoughts. Had it always been listening? While they had shared a true bond, they had never spoken. Talarius had not even known Ruiden could speak before he had shown up as a sword golem. This was going to take some getting used to.
Hephaestus corroborated the story with Sekhmekt and my father trusts Hephaestus; they are best friends, Ruiden said. Further, my father did not disagree with their statements. Surely, if he knew these visions and the statements to be false, he would have objected. Father is not averse to speaking his mind when he disagrees.
Talarius frowned. Is your father also a heathen deity?
No. Why would you think that?
Well, he is best friends with a heathen god and since he helped build Mount Doom, he is apparently immortal, Talarius replied to his sword.
Ruiden did not say anything for a moment. Well, he is remarkably long-lived, but I know he does not have a high opinion of gods, other than Hephaestus. I think he is jötunnkind, which would mean he is definitely not a god.
Talarius shook his head. The last day had been too much to process. He had been reunited with his sword, Ruiden, and discovered that his sword could shape-change into a sword golem. Then there was the fact that Ruiden was a demon-slaying sword forged in the Abyss, forged right here in Mount Doom by the resident smith. He had battled incredibly rare and powerful beings of myth, and then found out he was fighting alongside a pagan deity. It was too much to process. At the moment, all he wanted to do was curl up in a ball. However, Knights Rampant of Tiernon did not do that, so he got out of bed and began dressing himself. It was time to face the day and whatever new insanity it might hold.
“Usiris?” Bess said, looking up from her breakfast in the rooftop garden of the Outpost. “What a pleasant surprise!” Bess stood and gave him a kiss on the cheek, as did Astet, who had joined her for breakfast.
“What brings you down here? Were you racing with Charon on the Styx again?” Astet asked.
Usiris chuckled. “You know I only do that when trying to retrieve someone from the Beyond. He does not believe in return trips and so likes to give chase.”
Bess smiled. Charon and Usiris had a long history.
“I have come because I have gotten word from Merit-Ptah,” Usiris said.
Astet looked puzzled for a moment and then remembered why he would have heard from her. “She is working with you on the incubus project,” she said.
“Exactly, and she has located your Greater Demon,” Usiris said looking directly at Bess with an enigmatic smile.
Bess sat up very straight in the chair where she had just sat down. “Really? Amazing! Where, pray tell, is this mana-stealing demon that has thwarted our most hated enemy?”
Astet nodded in agreement.
Usiris chuckled. “As of last night? He was waging war alongside Sekhmekt and pêTah against Knights of Chaos here in the Abyss!”
Bess gasped.
“You can’t be serious?” Astet asked in shock.
Usiris nodded. “I am serious. He is the new Master of Doom. Lilith tried to do a preemptive strike using a Chaos Maelstrom and he rallied the D’Orcs, pêTah and Sekhmekt to defeat them and a few thousand demons.”
The two goddesses simply stared at Usiris in shock. “How does Merit-Ptah know this?” Bess finally asked.
“Well, it turns out that her incubus is a close friend of the new Master of Doom, and is also on a privy name basis with pêTah. The incubus, Sekhmekt, pêTah, Völund the smith and various D’Orcs were having celebratory drinks when she summoned the incubus.”
Bess chuckled. “I suspect that information set her back a bit.”
Usiris smiled. “It did indeed. She let him return to the party and then made contact with me to relay this information.”
“So have you talked to Sekhmekt or pêTah?” Astet asked.
“They were not responding at their palace this morning; they may have spent the night,” Usiris replied.
“Or they were still passed out,” Bess said with a chuckle.
“So, back to this greater demon… he is the Master of Doom? What exactly is there to master with a dead volcano?” Astet asked.
Usiris chuckled. “Apparently it is no longer dead. Your greater demon has relit Mount Doom and all the D’Orcs have sworn allegiance to him.”
Bess nodded thoughtfully. “He would have had to in order to defeat a Chaos Maelstrom and an army of demons.”
“Although, if Sekhmekt was there?” Astet countered.
“She would have lived — probably won in fact, but all the rest would be dead. The fact that they were having a victory feast means the greater demon is, as we suspected, much greater than a greater demon,” Bess said.
“A demon prince then?” Usiris asked.
Bess shrugged. “Orcus was a demon prince; it would make sense.”
Astet tilted her head. “Wasn’t Orcus technically a god? At least to the orcs and various jötunnkind?”
Bess shook her head, but not completely convincingly. “He had tremendous power, but as far as I know, he had no god pool, nor home on the Outer Planes…”
“We no longer have a home on the Outer Planes,” Usiris noted.
“Yes, but we all have god pools and a pantheon pool.” Bess shrugged. “I suppose if we really need to clear it up, we could ask pêTah; he obviously knows this new Master of Doom, and I believe he knew Orcus as well.”
Usiris nodded. “I have to assume Lilith thinks he’s a demon prince. If she thought he was a god, she would not have attacked so hastily, and if she thought him an archdemon, she would not have sent an entire Chaos Maelstrom after him.”
Astet was staring off over the horizon. “If they defeated an entire Chaos Maelstrom, then the Lords of Chaos are going to take notice.”
Usiris groaned. “Ugh. You really did not need to bring that up. I had not thought of that; I had only focused on the fact that we may have found a good ally. If the Lords of Chaos get involved, things are going to get exponentially more complicated.”
Bess sighed. “I am really not sure how that is possible; however, I agree.”