Agent of the Realm?

by Andur

  “Didn't he overdo it? What if Perseus hadn't been in the building? We would have lost our opportunity to question his goons.” I muse to myself, watching Perseus. Ok! We wouldn't have lost them. My father is in the habit of snatching every soul that dies close to him. Every... single... one. So it's easy to understand why we avoid inducting outsiders to this little secret of ours. Knowing that they are close to a soul-snatching entity makes people uneasy. Even if there are worse things than being forcefully employed by my father.

  The bastard is waiting for us, taunting us. He hovers in the centre of the crater as if there is no problem at all. It's as if he thinks that he can take on all of us at once. That's simply... overconfident? Insane? Did he snap during his imprisonment? I understand that biding your time in such a small cell is no fun. But he wasn't tortured, he had enough to eat and to drink. Hell, according to Marcus the prisoners are even allowed to read books. There is no reason to go off the deep end.

  “You forget that my father has the sight. He most likely saw the future, knowing that he would reveal Perseus by doing this,” Marcus explains his father's actions.

  “What a nice way to circumvent all those wards against scrying. Well, I suppose the wards aren't a problem any longer.” I mumble and stroll forward, shortening the distance to Perseus. The rest of the group is also closing in, approaching the crater.

  The power of a huge barrier weaves around me, charging my body with energy. I raise both hands to join the group spell. Fine tendrils of power coil around Perseus as our group closes in on him from all sides. If we want to contain him, then we have to work together to suppress his power. A fight without limitations could level a huge part of Newerth. By creating this barrier, we are trying our best to avoid collateral damage.

  Our best chance to subdue Perseus is to surround him with a barrier strong enough to stop him from breaking through. He can rage all he wants once we have him confined. With eleven divinities against one, we have a good chance at succeeding.

  My power flows into the barrier, strengthening my area of the spell. Marcus joins me without hesitation. But something feels off about the spell. It's formed correctly, but somehow it doesn't want to lock into place. When you cast a spell you can tell that you succeeded in invoking the spell. Once you fed enough mana into the spell matrix, the spell gains a nature of its own to create the desired effect. In this case we've woven the matrix and are feeding the spell, which is to be expected for a channel-type-spell. We are also getting the desired effect, but for some reason the spell doesn't lock.

  Charles reaches the edge of the crater. “Perseus, give up and come back with us. Don't you understand that you need help?”

  Perseus’s self confident smile turns into a sneer as he looks at his father. “And your idea of help is to deprive me of my power. I'll never give up on my ability. Why do I have it when it isn't meant to be used? I'll show all of you that I am meant to have this power. It is mine, just like Newerth should be mine!”

  A guttural laugh escapes his lips and he spreads his hands, drawing his fingers through the air. Fine threads of power become visible on his fingertips. They spread out and form an intriguing pattern which grows, snaking out from his position. It's a spell matrix, but one that was already in place when we arrived here!

  “That's bad!” Marcus starts a counterspell of his own, but as the pattern reaches our barrier it simply shatters. The vines of power flow past us, spreading across the ground. It's an area of effect spell, so I highly doubt that taking off into the air would have helped us.

  Even as I feel the spell doing something to me, a rain of icy shards hammers down onto Perseus. I try to cast a spell of my own, but I cannot move. Something is seriously wrong! Ishaan's shards of ice tear into Perseus, but he endures it. A few moments later the cloud above the house dissipates as if it was blown away and Ishaan falls towards the ground with his wife in his arms. The ice titan somehow manages to move his body despite the spell and shields his wife with his body. They disappear out my sight when they fall into the crater. The sound of the impact makes my belly cringe.

  I just hope that they didn’t get hurt, but knowing Ishaan I bet that he will simply stand up and create some noise with his spine. Even without magic. Then I realize that everyone is caught in this spell. Even Dad. I see him on the other side of the crater, ripples of shadow wandering over his face as he tries to transform. He achieves nothing though!

  “How can this be!? A binding spell of this magnitude. It must have taken months to set up such a trap. This is impossible,” Charles gasps. He tries to move, but he is caught like all the others. His conclusion is correct. Setting up a ritual that’s able to bind several divines at once… It must have been a hell of an undertaking.

  Perseus floats forward. “Months! Ha! It took years! Sneaking away during weekends. Biding my time with preparations, hiding my actions from everyone. It took years, father.” He reaches the edge of the crater and punches Charles in the face. Then he turns his attention to Clarity and kicks her in the belly. Without the aid of magic, both of them crumble like children.

  “I wanted to get rid of you since the day you replaced Mother.” Perseus takes his time to correct his outfit, simple, grey trousers and a black shirt with a loosely hanging coat. “I’ve planned for years to take over. In fact, I was about to launch my plan when that bitch started to cause trouble. I had to hold back and delay my plans. After all, I want a functioning kingdom. Taking over in a time of complete chaos isn’t that easy. And then you two simply had to go and arrest me.”

  He kicks his father for good measure, then he turns his attention to me. “But at least she is right here. Maybe I should delay killing her. You all can watch while I take my pleasure with her. This binding circle uses your own power against each other. The more people are caught in it, the stronger it gets. At first I didn’t expect to hold you for more than a few minutes. It would be enough to kill you. Though with that many people caught in the spell I should have well over an hour.”

  He walks towards me, ignoring the enraged cries of the people around us. I try to fight the force that holds me in place. Slight movements are possible, but it feels like being buried in sand. I can’t even summon a shred of mana.

  Marcus starts wriggling at my side. “Don’t dare to come near her or I swear that I’ll kill you! It doesn’t matter that you are my brother!” Perseus chuckles and slams his palm into Marcus’s chest. I squeal as he is flung backwards with the crack of bones.

  My scream is cut short when Perseus roams a hand over my torso, snaking tendrils of his power around me. I try to resist, but his energies are pure temptation and a boiling sensation starts gathering inside me. Why am I so weak towards his power? “Bastard!”

  He smiles. “Oh, I think you simply know that we belong to each other. We are two sides of the same coin. What do you think? Should we let them watch?”

  A jolt of electricity runs up my spine and I feel my mind become clouded. He is right. His power is so wonderful. I need it. The enraged screams of the others don’t matter as I move my hand to capture more of the sweet power that’s so full of pure temptation.

  Forcing my trembling hand ever so slowly to move, I reach out to touch Perseus’s cheek. Purring, I trail a finger down his neck towards the cleft under his throat, pulling in as much power as I can while reaching out with my own.

  Suddenly his self righteous, superior expression disappears and he chokes, startling me. He chokes another time, coughing up blood. The strange power of the moment is gone and I clench my teeth, realizing what I’ve done.

  Perseus’s upper body comes apart in a shower of blood, gore and bone, painting me red. In reflex, I close my eyes and feel the warm blood spraying onto my face. When I open them again, the Adonis of a man in front of me is gone. Just a short stump of his spine is protruding from the rest of his lower body. His arms were flung to the side. It’s as if his chest simply exploded from the inside out!

  I close my hand around the sou
l orb which was forcefully freed from Perseus’s mortal shell. As I do so, his head impacts the ground right next to Charles, rolling twice before it halts right in front of Clarity’s face. What remains of Perseus, topples over and I feel that the restraints which hold me vanish.

  In an instant Marcus is at my side, wheezing heavily. The broken rib, which is protruding from his chest, doesn’t stop him from touching me everywhere. “By the gods! He didn’t hurt you? Tell me that you are fine! How is the baby!? If he was still alive, I would rip him apart myself!”

  I blink, still holding the soul in my hand. “No. It’s fine. My ego took a little damage, but that’s all. I think I am unharmed.”

  Ishaan’s head appears from below the edge of the crater, Tisha on his shoulders. His eyes roam the scene while everyone else rushes to my side. “What the fuck happened here!?”

  I wince and try wipe the blood out of my face. The droplets are threatening to get into my eyes. “I… may have forgotten… that I cursed him.” I wince. My voice sounded so whimsy and shaken. It’s not the blood, or the gore. Hell, it isn’t even the fact that I just killed the guy who we wanted to catch alive. It’s the fact that I utterly failed in resisting his power. Again! Maybe I should simply accept that I am a little bitchy on the inside?

  Marcus frowns. “You cursed him? When? And which fucking curse makes a man burst into hundreds of pieces.”

  “Ew… It was months ago! You remember that time when I rammed my finger into his chest? I was totally freaked out at the moment and planted a triggered hex. The hex is supposed to fuse with the target’s inner magical circuit. It’s a slow curse, since it has to overcome the individual's natural resistance. But it grows over time if it isn’t removed. Once it encounters a certain energy wavelength, namely mine, it resonates and… this...” I gesture at the mess in front of me.

  Then I realize that I just killed a member of Newerth’s royal family. “I am being honest, you have to believe me! I really forgot that I planted the thing in the first place. Nothing would have happened if he hadn’t come close to me!”

  A hand touches my shoulder and I twitch. Mom is standing right next to me, a maniacal gleam in her eyes. “Don’t worry dear. It’s just proof that our anti-sexual-harassment-training was a full success. Planting the curse out of reflex is thanks to our long training. We had to prepare you against unwelcome advances because of your nature. Sooo… would you give me that?” She looks at the soul orb in my hand.

  My eyes wander back and forth between her and the orb. “What do you need it for?”

  She snatches the orb from me. “Just making sure that this one never, ever gets another chance at being included in the family.”

  71 ~Personal.~

  “Why do people collect items? Is it greed to have them always at hand? Or is the fear of throwing away something of worth.”

  The Journey to the Afterlife

  Kingdom Newerth, Capital City

  Marcus

  I ruffle my hair and clench my teeth, watching Seria as she wolfs down yet another bowl of fried rice. It's been three days since she killed my brother and for some odd reason I don't give a shit about it. Probably I should, but when it comes down to it, I have to admit that I was about to kill him myself. The fact that I don't know why Seria is sulking troubles me much more.

  She probably has no problem with the fact that she killed him. She hated him after all. I also know that she is really tough when it comes to blood and gore. So why is she locking herself inside her apartment and hiding from the world? Is she frustrated that my brother managed to pull her strings?

  Pursing my lips, I watch out of the window-front which is taking up the whole southern wall of the living room. Seria surely has it good when it comes to living arrangements. The view we get over her family's flying city is amazing. Located high in one of the palace's towers, her apartment feels like being on the top of the world.

  My father was shocked about my brother's betrayal, but he was always dense in that regard. He was never able to express something like fatherly love, so he was never really close to us. My mother was the one who made decent beings out of me and my siblings. In the end, even she proved to be fallible. Would it have made a difference if she had taken care of Perseus? In some aspects, the fault of Perseus turning out as he did can be laid at our feet.

  I return my gaze to Seria who is determined to focus all of her attention out of the window. She munches on a bowl of fried rice, using her bare hand to shovel the rice into her mouth.

  After Perseus’s death we left the cleaning up to the rest of the family and sought refuge in Seria's private quarters, where she informed me that she is determined to get this pregnancy over with in record time. So when she presented her glorious backside to me, I was all up for the task. Though now that things are cooling down I am starting to think about her feelings. My eyes wander to her round belly and she notices it.

  Huffing, she touches my hand and starts pulling on my life force, which is immediately replaced by the amulet around my neck. “I wish it was already over. I've a few memories about first time births, and I am not fond of the pain.”

  I intertwine my fingers with hers. “Aren't you making up for the pain with a lot of pleasure?” I furrow my forehead, looking down at her hand. “Though I do wonder. You can pull energy from a man just by touching him? Why didn't you do so earlier?”

  “It's about the amount of skin I can touch. The more, the better. And do you really want to tell me that you would prefer a mere touch to hot sex?”

  I laugh and get up. “Definitely not. So why do you do it now?”

  She grimaces and looks down at herself. “Are you for real? It's no fun when I can't even move.”

  “I certainly don't mind.” I put on my most earnest face, trying my best not to grin.

  She looks at me and finally the corners of her lips curl upwards. At least a little. “I swear. At some point I'll introduce you to the really kinky stuff. Then we will see if you are still high and mighty afterwards.” Having said so, she returns to devouring the fried rice.

  I shrug and stand up, deciding that I should finally give this room a good look. It's not like I lack the time and a room can say a lot about the person who lives in it. The first thing that comes to mind is that Seria's apartment is almost Spartan and very clean. There are a few sculptures and pictures on the walls, nothing exceptional. The pictures are of fractals and look like the ones she used to help her students train their memories.

  “Did you draw them?” I ask. Seria answers with an acknowledging grunt.

  I continue my inspection with the oversized television screen, an invention that only recently became attractive for Dedessians. They don't have a pop culture of their own, but they gleefully hitch-hike on Newerth's TV shows and music channels.

  It's interesting that Seria doesn't seem to have any personal items. Neither is there a real working space to conduct studies. Maybe inside that huge cabinet?

  I stroll towards it and open the two winged doors. What greets me is... surprising? Men's clothes? No, to be exact, it's a bunch of jackets and T-shirts of various sizes. And there are a lot of them. The whole cabinet turns out to be a walk-in wardrobe. And the left hallstand has my most beloved jacket right at the front. I'd wondered where it disappeared to.

  Realizing that the hallstand has wheels, I decide to give it a test. So I pull, and pull, and pull... until I reach the other side of the room. The thing is huge, at least eight metres in length and stuffed with neatly arranged jackets. The older ones are even vacuum-packed to make them smaller? Or to preserve them? Raising an eyebrow, I turn my attention to Seria who froze; hand with fried rice halfway up to her mouth.

  She swallows. “I can explain that. There is a perfectly fine explanation for why I have those.”

  I never expected her to have lived the live of a monk until she met me. Though seeing it like this... she certainly didn't hold back in this lifetime. Why I am kidding myself? Don't forget, she is a succub
us. “Oh, I believe I understand perfectly well. So I can assume that my jacket is the last one in your collection of trophies? Or is this indicating how many love rivals I'll have to fight in the future?”

  She bristles. “Oh, of course! Everything comes to an end sooner or later. This is a hobby that ended when you caught me. You are the one who got me with a baby, so you are the winner. Hand on my heart, may the tree swallow me whole if I lie.”

  I frown. “What a strange expression.”

  “Oh, it's not an expression. You see Yggdrasil out there? Back in the old days when the survival of the fittest ruled, we sent our children through the labyrinth under the tree. Those who were weak or of bad character didn't come out. It served as a test of strength and to judge one's mind, so people who did something bad always could try their luck in the labyrinth to prove their innocence.”

  That's barbaric! “You forced children to take the same test as adults? That can't be fair!”

  “Oh, you actually have a better chance to beat the labyrinth as a child. It gets more complicated and dangerous the more devious your mind is. Yggdrasil may not be sentient, but he has certain standards. He is a mythical creature after all. I am just glad that my parents never saw the need to test me.”

  “So they had to take the test?” I muse.

  “Oh, yes. Mom had to when she was a child. She almost died. Dad wasn't tested since he was born in another clan. But Mom once threw him into the labyrinth when they had a fight. He wandered the labyrinth for four days until he got fed up and blasted his way out.”

  “Blasted his way out?” I echo.

  “Yes. He collapsed a tunnel and dug upwards until he broke through to the surface. Almost gave some civilians a heart attack. They reported a zombie crawling out of the earth in the park. Marcus, can you go and call my Mom?”

  “Why do you need your mother all of a sudden?”

  “My waters broke, and she has medical experience like nobody else in the multiverse.”