Omnimage

by Simon Archer

  “There is a Divine Priest,” Starboros answered, “but you have yet to answer my question. What is your proof that the Order has been tainted?”

  “You want proof?” I prepared to lay down the law. “I’m the lone survivor of a massacre committed by Sorcerer King Grune himself of the hero candidates chosen from my homeworld. They then killed the Aurum Phoenix’s ascended paladin Torlith Goldmane.”

  “Torlith Goldmane?” Starboros jumped in surprise at the mention. “You think that he has ascended? Sure, he has not been seen by anyone since Grune ascended to godhood, but that is not proof enough that he has become this ascended, let alone that you witnessed his supposed murder. You cannot prove your ridiculous claims with more ridiculous claims!”

  “You want more proof?” I stared the paladin-wannabe down. “Listen for a bit, and you’ll understand. I was taken from my magickless world and brought into this one in the Order’s hopes of making a new breed of heroes, in the absence of the ones who must have died at the hands of Grune, failing to stop his ascension as the god-sorcerer. Torlith was picked out of the dead group of heroes to continue his work for the Aurum Phoenix, including helping in preparing the new breed of heroes. But, even though this whole rendezvous was supposed to be a big secret, Grune showed up anyway, bringing his freakish starfish lackey Zuak along to distract Torlith while he personally killed all of the heroes.”

  “Except for you, right?” The Golden Feather fan adamantly defied my story. “You’re the only witness to this supposed event? How do I not know that you’re not a spy yourself, sent to shake the faith of the people in the Order by these heretical suggestions?”

  “He’s also the Omnimage,” Delilah said to enter the conversation, “if that helps clear things up for you. It’s his job to save the world.”

  “What, by the Aurum Phoenix’s Divine Down, is an omnimage?” Starboros’s eyes rolled underneath that full-cover helmet, judging by the roll of the neck to accentuate it. “Another lie you lot use to cover up your other lies? Where will it end?”

  “‘Omnimage’ is a school of magic that means I’ve got all the magic schools at the same time,” I boasted. “I can do almost anything.”

  “If you must insist upon these insane lies,” Starboros chuckled, “at least increase the probability of the story being true, not dive so deep into the absurd that it would not fool even a newborn child. What is your goal in this trickery? Why must you insult a holy order dedicated to the good of all with this farce and nonsense?”

  I brought out the big guns, bringing a representative of every bit of magic I knew to bear. My maul gained a glowing aura of necrotic purple, fiery red, radiant yellow, electric blue, and a few floating rocks I’d thrown in from seeing Hikki’s magic. The same colors flowed around my own body, giving me a prismatic glow as Bodo teleported to my shoulder.

  While Starboros tried to hide the slack-jawed expression clearly present in posture, I quelled all of the magic effects to throw in a quick shapeshift into a rabbit and back again, just to show the breadth of magical knowledge I was working with.

  “How…?” The golden knight shut up pretty quickly at the sight of the overwhelming evidence yet again. “What are you?”

  “You’ve already been told what I am,” I said, sitting down, “Do you believe me now?”

  “So, then…” Starboros tried to put the pieces together. “Is that how you know about me? About who I am? Through your power over all magic?”

  “Actually, I don’t think so,” I explained, confusing the poor warrior more, “that’s a whole other ability that’s only going to confuse you at this point. I still don’t know what’s going on with it. I will say that this power does let me know your real name.”

  “What is your plan, then?” The knight asked me, “What about your experience tells you that the Order is partially to blame for this? By your own word, the Golden Feather gave you your powers. And I can see why Grune would not want to have an army of you breaking his hold on Neo Ceissein.”

  “I’m a special case, technically,” I explained. “Torlith improvised, creating my special school when everything went to shit. The original plan was just to create a new set of mage heroes, all with different schools of magic. I plan to figure out who’s fucked them over to Grune. The Aurum Phoenix went through a lot of trouble to get us over from our world to here, and even more so to keep it a secret by placing us smack dab in the middle of literally nowhere, some white void of nothingness that no one would have known about. The only way that Grune could have known where to find us is if someone who knew about the plan had told him where to look for us when we came over. I don’t hate the Order. I hate what Grune’s done to it that let him kill some friends of mine, including Torlith. He sacrificed himself so that I could escape with my life and this special power. I need to use it to help everyone.”

  “Wow.” Starboros dropped a lot of the previous bravado. “I do not know what to say. I would not have believed any of this.”

  “I had only heard half of the story myself,” Hikki admitted, shifting her sitting position over by us after finishing making the bunker. “I had no idea how much you have already been through. Your journey must have been lonely, coming here after seeing so much death and suffering. How do you keep pushing through?”

  “To be honest, you’ve made the whole thing a lot better.” I brought Hikki in under one of my arms, followed by Delilah, as they both put their hand on my chest. “You both have.”

  “Perhaps I should introduce myself more properly this time.” Starboros stood up to bow. “While I wish to be dubbed Sir Dawnslayer of the Order of the Golden Feather, my true name is Starboros, Child of Fire. I am a demon.”

  “A demon?” Hikki pulled away from the embrace to converse. “What’s a demon doing so far away from the Hellfire Chasm?”

  “A Child of Fire, even?” Delilah directed attention to the honorary title. “You’re not just any old demon. You’re part of the royal family of demons down there, right? That’s even more impressive that you managed to escape.”

  “It was not easy,” Starboros agreed, “My father will not stop hunting me until I return to the Hellfire Chasm. He would be furious if he knew that I also wished to be a paladin.”

  “How did you learn Grosrove?” Hikki asked, “Do demons trade with Grosrove often enough to warrant knowing the language?”

  “As a Child of Fire, I am expected to be knowledgeable in many subjects,” Starboros answered. “My father, the Underlord, is a firm believer in knowledge being equatable to power in many ways and wants a powerful family to secure his reign. I am a part of that base of power, and so I learn what I can until my father is pleased. Or, that was before I fled to these tunnels in the hopes of coming to the surface and becoming a paladin.”

  “Why does a royal demon wish to be a paladin of the Aurum Phoenix?” I asked what was on everyone's mind. “Won’t holy light, I dunno, burn you or something? That just sounds like you have a death wish.”

  “I do not wish to be like my brothers and sisters,” Starboros told us. “My father wishes for me to be yet another cruel extension of his will in the Hellfire Chasm. But my mother was a compassionate sort, an oddity among demons, who believed in a just and righteous leadership to promote fairness for all. She did not want this same destiny for me as my Father did, to become a baroness of one of the provinces of hell. When my mother passed away, I was afraid that I would forget what kind of person she always wanted me to be and be trapped as the baroness forever. But when I heard of the Golden Feather, and what a paladin was, I felt that this was exactly the kind of person my mother wanted me to be, and I knew I had to join them, no matter the cost.”

  “Sorry to squash on your dream, Starboros.” I got up to bow in apology. “I didn’t mean to be so vindictive of your mother’s wishes. I only wanted to make sure that you were someone I could trust. I also respect the Golden Feather, but I want it to be the best that it can be, without the obvious corruption that’s killing it f
rom within.”

  “Can we take Starboros with us?” Hikki slapped my chest as she asked about this knight like a stray dog. “Can we? Please? We can help each other with our quests!”

  “Oh, that sounds like fun!” Delilah cracked her knuckles. “We need a frontline fighter who’s not a yeti. No offense, Bodo. I love you, but sometimes I want someone to talk to.”

  Bodo purred as Delilah scratched under his chin.

  “Well, sure,” I said, “I mean, only if you want, Starboros. We’d love to have you, but we’re not going to force anything.”

  “You all wish to fight Grune and purge the Order of the Golden Feather.” Starboros slammed a fist to the golden breastplate. “This is quite the party of adventurers you have collected for yourself. I wish to join you on your quests!”

  “I will give this one bit of warning.” I gave my little disclaimer. “The structure of this party isn’t, strictly speaking, conventional. The relationships between us are a little weird, so you might have some trouble adjusting to it. I will not judge you if you decide you don’t want to come along with us after learning this.”

  “How so?” Starboros asked.

  “Well, starting in reverse order from when they joined,” I began to explain, “Hikki, this goblin druid here, is my wife. It’s a recent marriage, but official by goblin standards. The yeti on my back, Bodo, is my magic pet. And Delilah is my… what did you want to be called again? You didn’t like First Concubine.”

  “First Consort fits pretty well, I think,” Delilah decided. “It’s like a concubine, but with a bit more nobility.”

  “So these two are both in some kind of sexual relationship with you, and the beast is your beast slave,” Starboros summarized. “Are you saying that I must also have a sexual relationship with you in order to join this party officially?”

  “What?” I blinked a few times in confusion. “That’s not what I meant at all, in the slightest, even remotely--”

  “Very well, I accept your terms.” Starboros ignored me and continued the craziness of an agreement I had no part in. “From now on, as a member of this party, I will also be your second consort, under Delilah. We will be bound together for the rest of our lives as one household.”

  “What?” Delilah’s eyes lit up. “I have someone underneath me? Does that mean I get to order you around?”

  “I do not see why not.” Starboros encouraged Delilah’s excited fantasy of power as I quickly lost control of what was quickly becoming chaos. “You would be my direct superior in Jeremiah’s household. It would be your right to give any order to me that you wish, so long as they never contradicted the ones I get from Jeremiah himself.”

  “I can’t wait!” Delilah clapped excitedly. “What should I order you to do first? Oh, this new arrangement is going to take some getting used to. I mean, it’s gonna be a bit weird going forward, given that you’re going to be with Jeremiah like Hikki and me, and you’re also a ma--”

  “Oh, no, none of this is necessary!” I stopped Delilah before she could finish her thought and couldn’t hide my awkwardness in the presence of Starboros’s strange suggestion and uncompromising willingness to go through with it. “My disclaimer was more just an explanation of what had developed within our group that you might have found strange, and not in any way a description of any prerequisites to joining up with us. I was just warning you that things could get really odd around you from time to time and was not enticing you into joining in any way, shape, or form. You don’t have to be a part of this, really. It’s in no way required of you. You can just be a party member if you really want to, who fights alongside us. Actually, let’s take the ambiguity out and say you shouldn’t--”

  “Nonsense,” Starboros said. “As a paladin, I will be expected to be an excellent follower of the rules. If it’s a requirement for your party to have sex with you, the party leader, and to be a part of this mobile household, then I am more than willing to do as I am instructed. In fact, we should probably consummate the relationship as soon as we can to make it official. I hope I do not sound too eager, but I heartily look forward to the experience. You are a very handsome man.”

  “Thank you…?” I tried to accept the compliment with dignity as this spiraled out of control.

  “When can we begin?” The knight really was all too eager for initiation. “I would prefer to do it now if your First Consort and wife give their permission as well. I suspect they would be very wary of a supposed stranger taking some of their prize away.”

  “Oh, my god.” I couldn’t stop the craziness from unfolding or the danger of seeing something I didn’t wish to see from drawing near. As much as I respected the lifestyle, it was not my lifestyle. “Starboros, really, while I respect you for being so honest with us just now, and for putting up with me while I grilled you about the Order and your true motives, I really don’t think that--”

  “Really, Jeremiah, this is no trouble for me at all.” Starboros’s voice had changed as soon as the helmet came off. Instead of the warped voice that usually resounded, the demon’s voice was soft, melodious, and distinctly feminine. “I am more than willing to do what it takes to become a part of this team if it means helping out the Order. I actually find myself wanting to have sex with you and would be quite disappointed if I didn’t get to do it now.”

  With the helmet off, the worry I’d felt turned to excitement as I learned that my greatest fear had been alleviated. Starboros wasn’t a man but a demon woman whose voice was altered by her helmet and whose form was hidden by her armor.

  The blue streaks of hair flowed over one side of the demon girl’s head. Three small braids dangled near the front of the cascade of hair next to her face, each ending in a cylindrical stone bead with a series of jagged runes inscribed along the side. The other side of her head was shaved bald, exposing her fiendishly pointy ear and earthy-grey skin. One of her black horns poked out through her swept-over hair, the other simply poking out of her forehead. The irises of her eyes were an intense yellow, with dark slits for pupils like a snake. She had very soft features to her face and neck, juxtaposed with the broad image given off by her armor.

  “You can call me Star, now that we are friends.”

  “Oh, the fake-paladin demon is a girl!” Delilah sighed in relief on my behalf. “That was going to be a little strange for a second, there, wasn’t it?”

  “Thank you, Merciful God.” I couldn’t stop the words from escaping my mouth. “Er, um, I mean, well, then, by all means, Star, if you think that you can survive being ordered around by Delilah, then by all means. Cool. By. All. Means.”

  “Will you and our new companion Star need a private room?” Hikki placed her hands upon the ground as the wall of our bunker slowly began to bubble outward. “We have to wait for the labyrinth worm to pass through this area before we can safely make our next move, so you have some time before then. This group seems to grow with every passing day, does it not?”

  “Now? No!” Delilah objected to the idea. “No, no, no way does this new hussy get to have a round before I get the one I’ve been dying for since this group was formed! I’m getting my time in, damn it!”

  “I did not realize I was overstepping boundaries.” Starboros stopped unbuckling her golden armor, but not before her breastplate fell to the ground in a clang of ringing metal. “I will defer to the First Consort--”

  “Nuh-uh, not this time!” Delilah’s fury confused me as to the focus of it. “At this rate, if we keep going solo, all of the girls will have uneven scores all the time, and I’m sick of it! From now on, we share! Get your ass on the ground, Star! Jeremiah, get your ass on the ground, too!”

  “Wait, what’s happening--?” I tried to get a word in.

  “ON THE GROUND!”

  Both Star and I were on the ground before we even knew what we were doing. Bodo scurried off into the corner and out of the way.

  “You keep saying that you are no longer keeping score,” Hikki commented, maybe a little unwisely, “
but you keep mentioning that our ‘scores’ are uneven. Would it not be better if--?”

  “Over by Jeremiah, Hikki!” the slave-driving revenant commanded, stripping off her armor already. “We’re all in this together now! No one gets left out! If one of us needs some, we all get some!”

  “I didn’t realize how worked up you’d gotten,” I apologized as Hikki scooted over by me, cowering behind my arm, “you’re starting to scare me--”

  “Why are you all just sitting there?” Delilah had gotten all of her plates off already, pulling on the tunic underneath. “Get naked! We’re doing this now! Star can have the first go with him since she’s new. Now, shut it and strip!”

  Without another word, we all began to help each other with our clothes, pulling plates and pieces of clothing away until we were all sufficiently in our birthday suits. True to her word, Delilah let Star go first, though she didn’t wait for the demon knight to take the plate leggings off of her before the revenant carnal commander forcibly sat her down on me. Her patience had all but ran out, and I was both terrified and aroused by it. Judging by how easy it was for Star to slide all the way down, it seemed that she was, too.

  The look on Star’s face was one of hunger and want, and she immediately leaned forward, bracing herself on the ground beneath me as she raised her hips up. I felt the cool air hit the now damp skin of my cock for just a moment before she slammed her hips back down, sending me deep within her. I barely had time to gasp before she repeated the movement, and she picked up the pace until she was fucking me with a fury that left me speechless and struggling to breathe.

  I looked over Star’s shoulder to see Delilah standing there with her arms crossed, a satisfied smirk on her face. I glanced over to find Hikki beside me, seemingly unsure of her place in this situation. Regretfully, I grabbed onto Star’s hips to halt her movements. She froze and looked down at me, stunned, but I pressed on.

  “Delilah,” I barked. “How dare you orchestrate this just to stand by idly? Don’t you see Hikki needs some guidance?”