Demon Lord V - God Realm

by T C Southwell

  "You're thirsty?"

  "Yes."

  "I'll see what I can do."

  His eyes flicked open, then closed. "The girl who was with me, is she unharmed?"

  "Yes. All your slaves are being looked after."

  A slight smile curled his lips. "They are not my slaves."

  "What are they then?"

  "I saved them."

  "They were starving and exhausted," she said.

  "The God Realm is a bad place. I am weak and injured, I could not care for them well enough, and some of them refused the help I offered."

  "Why did they refuse?"

  "They are afraid of me."

  Nikira nodded. "How were you injured?"

  "That is a long story, and my head hurts. Have you nothing for the pain?"

  Nikira moved closer, inexplicably drawn to him. He seemed so reasonable, and spoke as any normal man would. "I think not. The pain will help to keep you subdued, and if you become hostile we have drugs that will make you compliant."

  He grimaced. "You are terrified of me."

  "Does that please you?"

  "No."

  Nikira signalled to a contech to bring some water. "Are you able to control the minds of those around you?"

  "Yes."

  "If you try it, we'll stun you again."

  "I will not." He flexed his right hand, and she stepped back in alarm, bumping into the soldier again. Feeling foolish, she moved closer.

  "You could be lying. Why should we believe anything you say?"

  "Why ask me then?"

  She hesitated, and the contech sidled in with a cup of water. "Your water is here; lift your head if you want it."

  The dra'voren raised his head, and the contech shot Nikira a terrified look. She jerked her chin, indicating that he should give it to the dra'voren. The young tech held out the cup at arm's length, and the dra'voren started when the cold edge touched his lips. He drank a few deep gulps, then let his head fall back, and the contech scuttled out. Nikira stared down at him, her mind devoid of intelligent questions.

  "Why did you chase the girl towards our hologram?"

  "The illusion?" He frowned. "I was trying to prevent her from getting killed by what I thought was a dark god."

  "A dark god? He was a dra'voren."

  "Same thing."

  "Dra'voren are not gods, only creators are gods."

  His frown eased. "I see. I do not know your beliefs, but where I come from, everyone considers what you call dra'voren to be dark gods."

  "Including yourself?"

  "Yes."

  "A grandiose aspiration."

  A slight smile curved his lips. "Well, if what you call creators are what I call grey gods, or light gods, then even they consider the dra'voren to be gods."

  "How would you know that?"

  "I know a few of them. Some even claim to be my friend, especially after I save them. They still fear me, except for Lyriasharin and the grey god who was my companion, Kayos."

  Nikira stared at him, shocked. "Impossible. No creator would befriend a dra'voren. Your kind kills them."

  "I am different."

  "You're lying."

  He turned his head away. "Do not question me if you are not going to believe me. I am tired and my head hurts, to say nothing of my arm."

  Nikira scowled at him for a moment longer, her mind seething with unease and disbelief, then swung away and left the chamber, the soldiers following. As the door slid shut, Enyo and Montar turned from the window to face her.

  "You heard all that?" she demanded.

  They nodded, and Enyo said, "Every word."

  "He has to be lying."

  "Of course he is; he's a dra'voren."

  "Then questioning him is pointless," she said.

  "Let's leave it up to the leaders at base to decide what to do with him."

  "They'll kill him."

  "Of course."

  Nikira marched to the door. "Watch him."

  Returning to her office, she started another report, then paused, thinking about what had just happened. It seemed like a dream, and she stared at the blank word recorder, unable to speak the first sentence. He had not behaved as she had always imagined a dra'voren would, had anyone ever managed to speak to one. Surely he should have been ranting and cursing, threatening to kill her and tear her ship apart if she did not release him?

  Why had he not freed himself and tried to attack her, or take her hostage? All those eventualities she had been expecting and prepared for, but instead his calm, reasonable attitude had surprised and confused her. Or was that his plan, to win her trust so she would free him? That was certainly not going to happen. She frowned at the blank recorder. There was a way to get the truth from him, if it worked. Jumping up, she hurried back down to the containment room.

  Enyo glanced up in surprise. "He hasn't done anything."

  "Good. Will drugs work on him?"

  "I'm not sure."

  "Let's find out. What can we try that will have concrete results, something he can't fake?"

  Enyo glanced at the monitors. "Euthanasia?"

  "I want him alive for now, Enyo."

  "Anaesthetic then."

  She nodded. "Do it."

  Enyo turned to his console and activated a communication screen to summon Jonar from his medlab. Nikira wandered over to the observation screen, and Enyo came to stand beside her.

  "If he objects to the procedure, it could get nasty."

  "I'll explain it to him, and then Jonar will administer the drug. If he tries anything, stun him."

  "Why are you doing this?"

  "If the anaesthetic works on him, then a truth serum should too."

  Enyo frowned. "Not necessarily, but there's a good chance, I suppose. He might be able to fake unconsciousness."

  "Unless we make sure he's out."

  "Stick a knife in him?"

  She nodded. "That would do it. Even if he's able to hide his reaction to pain, the surprise should be impossible to disguise, and since he's blind, he won't see it coming."

  Leaving Enyo gazing through the window, Nikira signalled to the two guards and activated the door. They accompanied her into the shredder chamber, but the dra'voren gave no sign that he knew of her presence.

  "Dra'voren."

  "My name is Bane."

  "We're going to perform an experiment on you. If you try to resist, we'll stun you again."

  His Adam’s apple bobbed. "I assure you, my reaction to pain is the same as yours."

  "We're not going to hurt you."

  "You already are. I am cold, and you deny me a potion to ease my wounds. You also deny me food and water, which weakens me, but I suppose that is part of your plan. I understand that you are afraid of me, and you think I am a loathsome thing that should be slain, but since you keep me alive, is it not within your power to ease my suffering? Are you so cold-hearted?"

  The dra'voren turned his head away, and she swallowed a lump, her heart twisting with pity. He looked so young and vulnerable, no more than twenty or so years old. She wondered if he was manipulating her feelings, and strived to harden her heart. His eyes opened briefly again, as if he was checking to see if his sight had returned, then he sighed.

  "Have you a name, or should I just call you 'Tormentor'?"

  "I am Commander Nikira Varel, and I'm not a tormentor."

  "What would you call what you are doing to me?"

  "Being cautious. I know you could tear apart my ship and kill us all if you got free."

  He turned his head towards her. "How am I going to get free when you have that infernal thing that knocks me out? Not to mention the blade, which I assume is aimed at my heart again."

  "It is, but we know you could melt it. You might even be able to disable the stunner, so we must take every precaution."

  "How long do you intend to keep me here like this? Will there be no end to my suffering?"

  She hesitated. "It will end soon enough."

  "When you
have finished examining me, and kill me."

  "When we've found a way to prevent you from harming anyone, if that's possible."

  "You have my word. But of course, you do not believe me. I cannot harm anyone as I am, so your goal is already achieved."

  Nikira glanced up at Jonar, who stood in the doorway, his equipment in one hand. He approached, and she looked down at the dra'voren again.

  "Which is why I can't release you."

  "So there is no possibility of my being released, is there?"

  "That's what this experiment will determine, but I can't say more than that."

  Jonar set up a drip next to the dra'voren's left arm, and he turned his head towards the medtech. At Nikira's nod, Jonar uncapped a needle, hesitated, and then pressed his fingers against the inside of the dra'voren's elbow to raise a vein. The dra'voren hissed as the needle sank in, his brows drawing together in a deep frown. Nikira bit her lip, turned and left the chamber to join Enyo at the window. A few moments later Jonar came out, and the door slid shut.

  He glanced at the clock on the wall. "It should take only a few seconds to work, if it's going to."

  Enyo glanced at her. "By the way, we've finished analysing his clothes. They're made of inert plasma, similar to a dra'voren's droge form, but utterly stable."

  "Interesting. What about that word that he used, and the names of the creators he claims to know?"

  Enyo shook his head. "Nothing in our database at all on those."

  Jonar turned to the bio scanner console. "It's working."

  Nikira studied the screen, which showed the dra'voren's brain image turning cool blue. "Let's make sure he's not faking it."

  "That would be difficult to do," Jonar pointed out.

  "I wouldn't put anything past a dra'voren."

  Jonar looked down at the fairly blunt kitchen knife he held. "If you think he can fake that, what makes you think he couldn't fake no reaction to this? He could be reading our minds."

  "You really think he could prevent anything showing up on the bio scanner?"

  "You wouldn't put anything past a dra'voren, remember?"

  She snorted. "We'll just have to hope that even he has limits."

  "And if he doesn't, we're all dead."

  "Sometimes risks are necessary."

  "No risk if we kill him now," Enyo pointed out.

  "I'm sure the techs at base would rather experiment on a living dra'voren than his corpse."

  "I'm sure they'd rather have his corpse than nothing, and a destroyed ship with a hundred and fifty people killed."

  "You're objection is noted. Make it official if you want." Nikira turned to Jonar. "Do it."

  Jonar re-entered the chamber and made a deep incision in the front of the dra'voren's thigh, which oozed bright blood. Enyo monitored the bio scanner.

  "No reaction."

  Nikira activated the intercom. "Heal it. I don't want him to know what we did."

  Jonar took an instrument from his pocket and pushed a button on its base. Its tip emitted a pale yellow light, which he shone it on the wound until it healed.

  Nikira had written another report, eaten, washed and rested before Enyo called to inform her that the dra'voren was waking up again. She hurried down to the containment room, eager to perform her next experiment, which could yield interesting information, perhaps reliable. When she arrived, she instructed Enyo to summon Jonar, then entered the shredder chamber with two soldiers. The dra'voren turned his head towards her, looking dazed.

  "Now we will perform another experiment on you, dra'voren."

  "What did the last one tell you?"

  "That this one might work."

  He grimaced and licked his lips. "Wonderful. May I have some water?"

  Nikira motioned to a hovering contech, who fetched a cup of water and held it to the dra'voren's lips when he raised his head. He drank several mouthfuls, then relaxed. Jonar arrived and injected a vial of truth serum into the drip that remained in the dra'voren's arm.

  He consulted his watch. "It should only take a few seconds to work, commander."

  "Good."

  After several moments of tense silence, the dra'voren's expression became blank.

  Jonar glanced at Enyo. "What does the bio scanner indicate?"

  "Decreased brain activity."

  "It seems to have worked."

  Nikira stepped closer to the dra'voren, excitement making her heart pound. "Dra'voren, can you hear me?"

  He ignored her, and she glanced at Jonar, who shook his head.

  "He won't reply unless he knows you're speaking to him, and evidently he doesn't consider himself a dra'voren. Do you know his name?"

  "Yes. Bane, can you hear me?"

  "Yes."

  "What does tar'merin mean?"

  "Incorruptible."

  Nikira frowned. "How many domains have you destroyed?"

  "None."

  "Who is Kayos?"

  "A grey god."

  "What are you?"

  "Tar'merin."

  She paused, studying his placid countenance, struck afresh by the purity of it. "Can you harm us, even bound as you are?"

  "Yes."

  "How?"

  A slight frown tugged at his brows. "With my mind."

  "The same way that you melted the clamps? You could melt us too?"

  "No."

  She glanced at Jonar, who raised his brows, and she looked down at the dra'voren again. "Do you intend to harm us?"

  "No."

  "Have you harmed people before?"

  "Yes."

  "How many, and why?"

  He turned his head away. "I lost count. I was a slave of the dark power before I learnt that it was evil."

  "How could you not know that it was evil?"

  "I was raised in the Underworld by Arkonen and his droges, and demons."

  "A dark realm?"

  "Yes."

  "Who is Arkonen?"

  "A dark god."

  Nikira paused to digest this. "Where is this Arkonen now?"

  "Trapped in the Underworld."

  "Who trapped him there?"

  "I did."

  "Why?"

  "He was destroying the Overworld."

  Nikira looked at Jonar again, who stared at the dra'voren in amazement. "Could he be lying?"

  "I don't think so, but who knows? What he's saying is unbelievable."

  "How long does the truth serum last?"

  Jonar consulted his watch. "About another ten minutes."

  She looked down at the dra'voren. "What were you doing in the God Realm?"

  "Trying to find a domain for the people with me."

  "And before that?"

  "Travelling to a distant domain to save Kayos' granddaughter."

  "A creator... light goddess?"

  "Yes."

  Nikira leant over him and stared at his face, searching for signs of duplicity. "What were you to save her from?"

  "A dark god."

  "Where is this Kayos now?"

  "A dark god pursued him, so he left in order to draw him away."

  "Why didn't you fight the dark god who pursued him?"

  "The shackles Artan put on me hurt me."

  She wished she could see his eyes. "What did the shackles do?"

  "They trapped my power inside me, and it was consuming me."

  "It would have killed you?"

  "Yes."

  "What happened to the shackles?"

  "Kayos took them off." His brows drew together, and his eyelids flickered.

  "I think it's wearing off," Jonar stated.

  Nikira nodded. "Bane, where is Kayos now?"

  "I do not know."

  "Is he in danger?"

  He turned his head towards her. "Yes."

  "Are you a danger to us?"

  "No."

  Nikira frowned. "You said you could harm us, even now."

  "I could, but I will not." His clouded eyes opened, staring blindly though her.

  "
It's worn off," Jonar muttered.

  Nikira stepped closer. "Don't you want to be free, and end your suffering at our hands?"

  "Yes. I would free myself, if not for that infernal thing that knocks me out."

  "What would you do then?"

  "Leave." He closed his eyes. "What did you do to me?"

  "Made you tell the truth, I hope."

  "Was it enlightening?"

  "Very." She glanced at Jonar. "He doesn't remember what he said?"

  "Not if the serum worked."

  "You lied to us, dra'voren."

  "About what?"

  "Earlier you told me you couldn't harm us bound as you are, but just now you said that you could."

  He sighed. "I did not want to frighten you."

  Nikira stared at him for a moment longer before she left, Jonar at her heels. The door slid shut behind the two guards who exited after them, and she leant on a console, her legs trembling.

  "It can't be true."

  "I agree," Enyo said.

  "We'll let the leaders at base decide what to do with him."

  Bane considered what had just happened, and wondered if there was any chance that the woman who appeared to be in charge had believed him. Given his past experience with people who knew more or less what he was, he doubted it. Would he eventually be able to convince her that he was not evil, as he had done Ethra, or would she kill him? His options were limited and his predicament dire. Shivers ran through him and his arm ached, pain lancing up it every time he moved. His stomach was a tight empty knot, and the water that he had received had done little to ease his thirst. He longed to be able to see where he was, and a deep concern for Mirra gnawed at him.

  Certainly these people had power, to be able to capture him and hold him prisoner, and more alarmingly, rob him of the dark power. Whatever prison held him also blocked his soul sight, for they appeared close by through a portal and vanished again when they left. He sighed and turned his head to the side, trying to ease the ache in the back of his skull.

  Kayos ducked under an earth demon's fist and swung his shield, striking it in the side and causing a chunk of its foul soil to slough off. A fire demon's eyes raked his body shields, and another earth demon loomed over him, its fists raised to strike. A bolt of dark power cut through the throng and hit his body shields, staggering him. Torvaran's new strategy was to use demons to distract him while he sought to penetrate the grey god's defences, a tactic that had not yet worked, but was more dangerous. Torvaran had landed a few bolts, which, although they had not harmed him, forced him to almost entirely encase himself in shields.