Reclaiming Mystique

by Bevan Greer

  Naria nodded and gave the Informa one last glance. “Amazing,” she said. “There is so much life here,” she noted, rather oddly he thought.

  “Life? Are you telling me that Seven doesn’t have life? Because I’ve been there and during your Light Years it’s just as crowded as Rovi, moreso as the scholars have a field day around Seven’s vast libraries and archives. Tell me, Naria,” Jace asked blandly. “Which library do you work in?”

  At that moment Naria spied a table and chairs next to several others holding people talking quietly. She sat and looked up at Jace expectantly. “Now what do you want to know about the Cazeth?” she asked.

  Jace saw the evasion for what it was but her words did their job distracting him. “You honestly know about the Cazeth?” he asked, daring to hope.

  Naria laughed softly. “Jace, I know my history better than you probably know yourself. I may not be System-wise, but I’ve spent my life studying about other cultures. Some of the Dark World histories are my most well-known.”

  “Dark World histories? Are you telling me that the Cazeth are from Dark World?” he asked, intent on her answer. She had removed her glasses and he could see the intelligence shining in her gaze.

  “Okay, let’s start at the beginning.” Naria sighed, knowing she had to temper much of what she told him, that Dark World’s history was largely shrouded in mystery. “Though the System has changed Motherworlds throughout the years, the Nearworlds have been surprisingly consistent. There are twelve Nearworld planets, thirteen if you include that mysterious ‘other planet,’” she began, noting his startled look.

  “Let’s just say for the sake of argument that there are twelve,” Jace said in an odd voice.

  “Right, twelve. Well, it’s been speculated that the Nearworlds have had life much longer than the Motherworlds and that that life began on Dark World. Dark World and Seven, both planets in the far periphery of the system, rarely see the light of the Nearworld suns. So for hundreds of years scholars refuted that life could and did flourish there.

  “But lately there’s been a turn-around in thinking, perhaps driven by those escapees from Dark World. For whatever the reason, research has shown that the remnants of such creatures as the Horde and possibly the Cazeth—a people that no one to this day have seen,” besides the Dark Worlders, she thought to herself, “originated from Dark World.”

  “So you have texts describing this?” Jace asked, his eyes glittering in excitement.

  “Well, yes,” Naria said slowly, praying he wouldn’t ask to see them at some point. All the knowledge she shared with him had come from Dark World itself, and no one save the Dark Worlders had access to that information.

  “But Jace, let me finish what I know. Many of the worlds in our System are dangerous, but none moreso than Dark World.”

  “I believe that,” he murmured, his eyes intent on her face, listening to her words to capture every detail.

  “Yes. You see, Dark World is almost its own private system. Having seen some of the creatures residing there, do you have any doubt that if set free in the System, they wouldn’t take over everything? They would bring chaos and a dark taint to everything they would touch,” she said bitterly, thinking how terrible it felt to be a part of such a thing.

  “But they cannot leave that world, not without express permission from some higher being, Jace. The Horde disappeared from Dark World thousands of years ago, vanishing to another System altogether. It is believed,” she said, as she realized she spoke too fervently on the subject. “That is to say, modern scholars think that the Horde had escaped Dark World and had been hunted by them ever since. Yet last year they were defeated, were they not?”

  “Yes,” Jace said with satisfaction. “By a good friend of mine, actually.”

  Naria blinked. “The Mari is your friend?”

  “Yes, as is her mate,” he smiled. “Very good people.”

  Naria didn’t know what to make of his warm smile. For the first time since she’d met him she saw honest affection and love towards another being. She felt small and petty for wanting that look directed her way. Shaking her head, she returned to her story.

  “Well, suffice it to say the Horde is no longer a threat. The Cazeth, on the other hand, might someday prove otherwise.”

  “Do you believe they exist?” Jace asked.

  “I do,” she said solemnly. Naria had seen the dark beings, creatures not demon or devel, but something much worse, something that the Wern moon had produced. “I believe, though this is all speculation you understand,” she paused and watched him nod impatiently, “that the Cazeth were even dark by Dark World standards. I think that somehow a few Cazeth escaped Dark World’s fifth moon, Wern. Wern is a place no demon or devel looks toward, lest they find madness and chaos their friend.

  “The Cazeth, however, thrive on disorder. They sought for a time to take over Dark World, encaging the residents under their control and moving swiftly to overtake the entire System. But, according to the passage I read in one of my books written by an obscure author, a Dark World war raged for years. In time, the powerful Cazeth were beaten down and imprisoned on Lysst, the very moon where all of us had been imprisoned.

  “But something went very wrong,” she said with a frown. The Demon Lord prior to her father had been killed in the battle, the Cazeth fleeing, it was thought, to find the Horde. “And the Cazeth escaped. It was believed they found their brethren the Horde and stayed with them for a time. But they didn’t appear last year in the attack on the System, so I can only speculate that they parted and moved elsewhere.”

  Jace nodded grimly and Naria could tell that he knew something she didn’t.

  “Jace?”

  “They invaded another world,” he said bluntly then quickly changed the subject. “But Naria, how does one destroy the Cazeth? You tell me they are of Dark World, but what exactly does that mean?”

  “Dark World hosts many lifeforms, many of which are considered evil and cruel by the System. Demons and devels are thought to exist in hel, correct? Well, you’ve seen them and they exist in Dark World. But not all demons and devels are evil. The cruelty in Lord Demise, for instance, is a necessary trait. Those he imprisons in his jail are for the most part there for a reason.”

  “I suppose we were just very unlucky?” Jace snorted.

  “Yes. We were. But my point is that the Cazeth are of mortal flesh. Though they may live longer than some species in the System, they may be killed. The Cazeth are neither demon nor devel, but something else.”

  “Explain this,” Jace said looking fascinated, and scooted closer to her chair.

  “Well, demons and devels primarily make up Dark World’s inhabitants. Devels control the elements and that which can physically lead to death. Demons, on the other hand, control the mind. They pray upon a being’s weaknesses, as the Succubi did to Mikhel.”

  “Succubi?” Jace asked.

  “Uh, yes,” Naria said slowly to search for an explanation of her knowledge. She wanted to share everything she knew with Jace but needed to say it as though she had been given the knowledge from someone else. “Carinna mentioned it to me the other day. A Succubus is a female demon that preys on a male through sexual devices.”

  “Really?” he asked looking interested.

  “Jace.” Carinna rolled her eyes. “You saw Mikhel. He might have enjoyed their attention at first, but you saw what they did to his body.”

  “True.” His expression darkened.

  “The point is, a Cazeth is neither a demon or devel, but something in between. Where their mental powers may fade, their control over the physical gaps their weaknesses. They would be very hard to defeat for any creature in Dark World, but more manageable than for an Offworlder to battle. Can you imagine a Rovi trying to combat their powers?”

  “No, I can’t. For all their strength, the Rovi do not possess the psychic abilities to combat the Cazeth,” Jace said with a shake of his head. “Naria, I must know all I can about the Cazeth. I
have to find a way to defeat them.”

  “Why Jace?” Naria asked uneasily. She had a very bad feeling about this.

  “Because they have indeed returned to the System and taken over a planet easily, a planet that they should never have been able to see.”

  “What?” she asked in astonishment.

  “Naria,” Jace said with a dark voice. “Trust me. They have a Nearworld planet and they’re only getting stronger.”

  -11-

  “By the love of Lysst.” Lord Demise scowled as he circled above his home, his wings fully extended and his eyes bloody red in rage.

  For the past few days he’d been in a frenzy to find his missing daughters, convinced that the prisoners had managed to escape with them as hostages. The blonde had been extraordinarily strong, thus abetting Demise’s explanations, until today when one of his guards happened to mention the presence of the Night Terrors.

  Demise howled again in anger as he moved swiftly through the darkness of night. How dare his daughters do something so reckless, so terrible, so disloyal. The men who had landed on Dark World should have died here, not able to breathe a word of Dark World existence, to keep the peace between Dark World and the rest of the universe.

  The Night Terrors’ presence had implicated Naria’s involvement easily. He had always known of her fixation on both Sherm and Rethal but had deemed it harmless though it made him slightly uneasy. Demons and devels alike shied from those misshapen creatures as they spun nightmares around their victims. How like Naria to befriend them.

  He smiled grimly, aware that as much as he felt anger at Naria’s deception, he felt a point of pride that she and her sister had managed the rescue of that large group of prisoners so easily. Naria, he sighed as he floated back down to the ground. You disappoint me and yet your lies do you proud.

  Then his rare good mood disintegrated under the harsh tongue of his Lordess, Xeche. She ranted and kicked at the winged serpents welcoming her to his home and rushed towards him, her beautiful breasts heaving, her redna glowing with anger. Apparently his little Succubus had only just now heard of the prisoners’ escape. He’d done his best to keep things quiet but knew he could not avoid the inevitable. So he’d reported their disappearances earlier this day to his senior, keeping Naria and Carinna’s involvement silent.

  Immediately Demise had sent out patrols to find the crew but to this point they had come back empty. They had searched the System and found no trace of the ship sailing through space. Lord Demise’s frown intensified. That could only mean that the ship had grounded on a planet. And he’d have to dispatch a contingent of Searchers to find them. Damn and damn again. He hated having to work with devels.

  “Do you know that my poor daughters are wailing with grief, clawing at their eyes and breasts as the hunger ravages them? They had so little precious time with that Fenturi, Demise.” Xeche hissed as she stormed around him.

  Lord Demise watched her with little expression, waiting for her to spend her rage.

  “And I was denied my chance to explore the newcomers as well,” she huffed, her nails extending as thoughts of the prisoners overtook her.

  Demise sighed with pleasure as he watched her temper soar. Xeche surely was a harridan, a spoiled and tempestuous creature that both irritated and intrigued him. In her anger, her eyes glowed. Her body flushed and heaving, she stirred his blood. It had been over a week since he’d last had her luscious body bucking under his and as he stared at her he sensed she could feel his passion rising.

  “Demise,” she wailed as he advanced, “I’m upset.”

  “Yes, you are.” He smiled and she flinched, the sight of his teeth a terrible thing that struck fear into many, his mate included.

  He yanked her to him and uncaring of any who watched, took her brutally in the open courtyard. She squirmed under him protesting but he could feel her blood warm as desire overwhelmed her. He knew she loved what he did to her, a true Succubus in her lusts for pain and pleasure.

  A short time later he released himself from her body, content that in this making he had created a new life in her smooth belly.

  “A shade this time, I think,” he said pleasantly and watched as Xeche glowed.

  “Really, Demise?” she asked with warmth.

  “Yes. In three months I’ll have sired a young shade,” he smiled. “So try to keep your sensual needs a bit tame until the young demon is born.”

  “Yes, my lord,” Xeche said prettily, batting her long lashes as him, her good mood restored. All thoughts of the prisoners fled her mind as she cradled her growing belly. In moments she looked slightly rounded, the shade taking life quickly before anyone could move to stop him.

  Demise smiled with pleasure. Never before had he sired a shade and he felt somewhat relieved that a male would be born and raised in his lifetime to take over for him when he passed. He loved his daughters but knew they took a completely different path than he.

  That thought in mind, he scowled as he watched Xeche leave. His daughters, he thought in displeasure. Damn Zena for having been so bloody erotic, he thought. His member stirred at thoughts of what she had done to him by merely existing, her ripe body taunting his memories.

  Xeche came close, but she could never fully recapture the pleasure Zena had afforded him. He often wondered if her mental abilities and bloodline had attributed to his passions, never quite knowing how she had come to his planet or from where. And now her daughters did the same, escaping him though not through death, not yet.

  He felt somewhat surprised that Carinna would have fled her world. He’d always felt that she would indeed adapt well to life here on Lysst.

  He sighed again and walked purposefully towards his senior’s manor. He ignored the pervasive gloom and dark menace swirling about his body and waved away the small spark demons, preferring the darkness of night.

  He approached a set of large doors deep within the manor, doors black and built of bone and rotted flesh, pulsing as if alive. The aroma tantalized him as he waited patiently to be announced. They creaked open slowly and he walked in only when his name had been announced.

  “Master, Lord Demise approaches.” A hiss sounded from a ferthon, his master’s loyal servant.

  “Demise,” boomed in every corner, many pitches and tones ringing as one voice. The bearer of that voice sat tall and proud, twice the size of Demise and twice as deadly. His throne of white marble sharply contrasted with his black body, enshrouded by nothing to hide his scaly flesh. Part demon and part devel, the Master had no race specifically but was a part of Dark World holding it together.

  “My Master.” Lord Demise bent his head in respect. “I come to report that the prisoners have not yet been found.”

  “I know that Demise. Perhaps what you wished to tell me is why you have withheld the notice that your daughters are also missing?” Master whispered, his tongue lashing into Demise as if physically striking him.

  Demise sagged under the mental knives thrown at him, calling forth his strength to hold him upright. “Aye, Master,” he said hoarsely. “The Dark Worlders are gone as well. I think we have need of the Searchers.”

  The Master laughed and Demise stood, his pain no longer present. “So difficult, eh Demise? Come now, the devels are not so very different from you.” He flicked his tail, a long whip-like appendage ending in a throng full of poisonous spikes. Suddenly a devel appeared before them both and Demise barely repressed a groan.

  “Devel Keep Krital.” Master smiled, his teeth as sharp and white as Demise’s. A Devel Keep, the devel equivalent of a Demon Lord, commanded devels and possessed the same respect afforded a Demon Lord. Unfortunately, Krital irritated Demise like no other devel could, constantly seeking a way to overthrow his presence from the Lysst jails. Krital had wanted the devels to oversee the massive prison, and Demise feared that losing the prisoners and his daughters might be the key Krital had been searching for all along.

  “Master.” Krital bowed respectfully. His pale skin glowed faintl
y red, his long black hair shimmering in the winds of change approaching. “Lord Demise.” Krital grinned with pleasure and this time Demise groaned aloud.

  Master laughed, pleased with the discord between his favorite lords. Demise figured that as long as Krital and he fought, Master would have no fear of being overthrown. Though to do so would require tremendous skill that few in Dark World possessed, save the Cazeth.

  “Master, why is Devel Keep Krital here?” he asked.

  “Why, to oversee the Searchers, along with you, Lord Demise.” Master grinned, his red and black eyes glowing with evil laughter. “I care not for the prisoners, Krital. But the demons must be returned. Already our missing Cazeth stir the darkness of the System more and more every missing day. To have our demons loose as well will only encourage more darkness to leave. And once that happens, Wern will surely thrive until we all serve its cause.”

  Krital nodded silently, memory of the missing Cazeth heating his blood no doubt, Demise thought. The Cazeth had been under strict devel guard in a private sect of his prison when they’d vanished. And though he hadn’t liked thought of the Cazeth free in the System, at least it had happened under Krital’s watch.

  “Lord Demise, Keep Krital? I don’t want to remind either of you what the price of failure will be should the demons go free. It’s bad enough the Cazeth wander aimlessly; we will not have any more of our people outside of our control.” His warning was unnecessary, Demise thought as he watched his master stand and stare down at them both with his threat clear in his red and black mottled eyes.

  They bowed reverently and left. Once again under the Lysst sky, the two breathed easier.

  “So you lost not only the prisoners, but your daughters as well, hmm?” Krital asked nastily, his grin widening to show a fanged mouth and pronged tongue. “How delicious.” He laughed.