The guests we had played host to left gracefully, as was expected of them regardless of the urgency, but with haste. All but the lord who spoke to me and Everlith, those two whispered to their retainers who left them to retake their seats.
When everyone else had vacated, Fala asked if she should leave as well and I shook my head before speaking. "Everlith, my Lo…"
"You will call me Mildra and I will hear no word of it, you clearly see Everlith as a friend and equal and I would have the same treatment." The friendly and down to earth nobleman was the only actual leader amongst us, aside from Halsan, even Everlith was only the second most influential person of her nation. I grumbled it was more like annoyance and lack of something to respect before Halsan scolded me, which led to a childishly sadistic grin from the unholy high priestess.
When Fala suggested we behave like her friend and their sibling we both huffed with expression of false disgust, then chuckled after, the sight left Midra bewildered as he asked why she seemed so open with me. I made a gesture for Halsan to have the room vacated, then threw up a silencing field for good measure, then told Fala it was very important she didn't tell anyone what we spoke about before telling Evelith to recount all she knew.
When she asked if I was sure I simply sighed and said I was too old and weary to keep secrets from those I cherished any longer, declaring I would tell Leeson and Byurik myself later and I had wanted to do so sooner but things kept getting piled onto my plate. "You know, single-handedly putting the brakes on a war spanning the entire continent is a real glutton on a guy's time and energy." I joked, stretching to emphasise the effort I had expended.
Everlith seemed so fed up with arrogance, false or not, Mildra chuckled and reinforced Fala's earlier statement as he likened us to his own children's sibling squabbles. Which in turn caused the irritated high priestess to throw herself completely into her retelling of everything she knew. Though on several occasions she tried to get me to take over and provide a few more details, but I just yawned saying, "you got this" further irritating her.
None of the three really knew what to say, Fala least of all, Halsan eventually asked if it was ok for them to know the truth. "No rule against it, I keep it secret to avoid people hiding their natures, or worshipping me… that world died so contentedly it was disturbing." I trailed off into the last line as I remembered the one world where they did discover my identity.
When they asked why I killed a world that worshipped me, I simply asked them if they think people who readily sacrifice others deserve to live. "I'll never say I envy you again." Halsan spoke softly, a thought meant for his private thoughts made public.
Fala seemed nervous, so I told her I wouldn't mind if she stayed away from me, and that I wasn't likely to make a final judgment while anyone present was still alive. We were all surprised when she just asked if that's what all healers do, the question so innocent Everlith and I laughed hard enough to fall off our chairs.
The bizarre scenario made Halsan ask why the two of us were so similar and brought our laughter to an abrupt end. Everlith then asked when I intended to set out for battle, confusing the others until she pointed out that I didn't have it in me to sit back and let people kill without impunity. Though she was surprised when I said I truly wasn't going to fight. "I meant it, I can't afford to die in a needless battle, and numbers always have the potential to land a fatal blow, so I'm gonna go execute a king and tell the approaching force my plan on the way. I'll leave in two weeks and I'm going alone."
Halsan looked concerned, Evelith looked annoyed, Mildra was just trying to hold off mental overload and Fala was just looking into the middle distance. I stared at her for a brief moment before poking her cheeks, realising that she had shut down and stopped absorbing anything that she saw or heard. Unfortunately this gave me the perfect chance to draw an inky spiral on her cheek with the quill and inkwell before me.
As I declared that I was getting tired and stood to leave however, Fala jumped on my back and forced me down into the chair, and as Evelith applauded her Mildra and Halsan demanded that I at least help plan the narrative. I don't know how Fala got involved suddenly, but it was like she sensed I was getting a lecture and wanted to make sure I took it without running off.
In the end I stayed as ordered, but mostly tried to doze off. Halsan made the same comment about my fatigue as the others had but I just made a wide gesture at events and replied sarcastically. Suddenly Fala jumped on my lap and intermittently pinched me to make sure I was awake, as much to my chagrin as the other's delight.
Though when I said that a good assistant would take notes on my behalf she scrunched her uniform and said she didn't know literacy was a requirement.
After Evelith managed to guilt me into sincerely feeling bad, I promised to teach her like a good instructor and she smiled so much it almost made us forget the ongoing troubles. Despite Fala's efforts, I didn't pay enough attention and was effectively clueless by the time I was allowed to leave, so I'm not sure why they were so surprised when I said I was going to sleep until it was time for me to leave.
Unfortunately I only managed to sleep through to the next morning before I was forcibly awoken, and after that I had lost all patience for my rest being disturbed.
After that, I secretly left to spend the rest of my time with Askel, where I could at least find peace. It was a delightful time, Sleeping almost constantly, Asklel bringing prey for me to eat as and when I stirred. Perfect until Everlith showed up to tell me about an emissary from the encroaching force.
Lethargy had seeped into every fiber of my body and I had no desire to move, and I nuzzled into Askel as I stubbornly refused to move, until the intruder gave an exasperated sigh that was so similar to mine even I had to admit the similarity.
When I asked how she found me, she shrugged as she recounted the tale. "When Sil told me about the emissary I offered to find you, and as I asked everyone one by one where you might be, they said 'the mine with Askel' without hesitation. Except Halsan who said 'With that damn snake of his, and I hope it bit him'."
Askel seemed offended until I nuzzled him more and assured him I knew he would never do that, then climbed on and asked him to take me back to town. Everlith protested the ride, but I dragged her on, which was a mistake given the way she melted into him and revealed yet another similarity.
"Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't hate you." I said with surprising warmth, I couldn't deny she was fun to be around and we both had similar hobbies. (Even if those "similar hobbies" were messing with people and a touch of harmless sadism."
"Don't take this the wrong way, but I wouldn't hate having a brother like you." She told me a bit about how she grew up, and never felt like she could be herself. Saying that when she met me and I didn't seem interested in being what people would expect of a representative, it gave her confidence to be herself even if just around me.
When I told her I knew, I admitted that was why I asked her to help train healers, to give her a chance to do something as herself and not the high priestess. She tried to thank me, but I shook my head as I told her she did the same for me, except I had trapped myself in what I believed to be the many necessities of my duty.
I then asked if we were ever admitting this to the others and she genuinely asked if I was an idiot and sarcastically asked what I thought we were gonna do.
Askel was much faster than walking, but it would still be an overnight journey, which was a fact I had honestly forgotten until I saw the remnants of her camp. I then asked exactly how she managed to leave without a forced escort and she revealed another similarity as she told me that she just left as she declared she would fetch me whilst waving to them.
When we finally stopped I used magic to make a pit the size of a small pool and filled it with water for Askel, then went to hunt for some food. When I returned with a deer and one of the monarclaw, which I had already confirmed was not the same variant that Doran and I encountered,I let Askel pick his favourite. I then cooked the cat beast for Evelith and I. Finding myself lost in the moment as I approached and hugged her, she was shocked and asked me what brought it on.
"In my first life, I was alone in my youth, except for a friend who was like a sister. She eventually took her own life, and I have never found someone to think of as family since. Just for a bit, let me saviour this sis."
"You're an idiot, Fala and even Sil are like family to you too, not to mention Halsan, Leeson, Byurik and I'm sure there are others." Her voice was soft and for a moment she relaxed into the embrace, before her face grew flushed and she then zapped me with her magic. Telling me to be a good brother and feed her, quickly noticing Askel's gaping, fanged jaws behind her and adding please to the sentiment.
During the night I had Askel coil around her to give her a bed both soft and warm, but most importantly safe. I had kept it secret since she appeared at the mine, but my body felt weak and not just from idleness, my magic was still beyond reason and I was using it to augment my physical abilities, but the decline was sharp enough I wondered if I had managed to contract a disease of some kind.
As the high priestess serenaded me with her ungodly snoring, which echoed around the rural setting in a grotesque cacophony which sounded like lumberers, banshees and bad musicians holding a contest of ability, I took a twig from the fire and burned myself to record its healing. I then sat quiet and thoughtlessly as the High Priestess robbed me of the ability until the sun began to rise.
The next day started early, and as soon as Everlith had finished her morning ablutions, we made for home. I slept more on the way until we began to approach town and my companion woke me up in case the guards were panicked by the monster approaching.
It was a good thing too, as it wasn't long until we heard a scream, followed by alarm bells.
The rest of the journey passed in a blink, and before we knew it we were face to face with adventurers, soldiers, familiar faces who mostly began to laugh as they saw us.
Mostly, but there were three front and centre who were less than amused by the unexpected arrival of the large snake, upon which both their careless representative and a foreign high priestess laid.
"Archers! Loose!" Halsan roared as I gave a singularly uncaring wave from my prone position, forcing Leeson to belay that order as Byurik restrained the mad lord. Ignoring the addled mind of our leader. I finally introduced everyone to Askel then sent him back to the mine after he shook his least favourite passenger off.
I made a sarcastic comment about hoping the High Priestess of snoring hadn't hurt herself as I helped her up, and she made a show of calling me her most gallant hero, then she threw her arms around me and zapped me with magic again.
"Call me Eve." The words were quiet, and I almost missed them, the surprise attack doing real harm in the weakened state I found myself in. Halsan made the point that it was no time for childish antics, and I swapped into serious mode.
I was brought face to face with the man, who bowed, then he and the others filled me in on what I had missed. Apparently the kingdom was no longer ruled by the king, something else was pulling their strings, the force approaching was supposedly there of their own choosing after they decided to desert.
I sighed and told the emissary to head back with a couple of carts, then my plan, if he and the rest were truly there as deserters he was to fill the carts with every weapon, dismantle the few siege engines they brought and return with the carts.
He tried to argue initially, but after I told him I wasn't negotiating with them or Kanelsia anymore, he accepted it as a necessity. After all, he was clearly aware that everything and things had deteriorated past the idea of equal terms and now rested upon the threshold of this ultimatum. To cross, which meant submitting themselves completely to a group who had more than a few reasons to see recompense. Or turn back and pray that their desertion could be reframed in some kind of ill-considered attempt at subterfuge.
As soon as he left I announced I was leaving, to make sure they didn't pretend to surrender. Waving as I spoke and ignoring their pleas for me to wait, until I had a thought. I stopped and told Eve to send word home, let them know she was safe and for Mildra to do the same, then gave them and Halsan a second order.
"Let them know I am inviting the demon king to the next summit." I then continued leaving, waving away their multiplying concerns. It took three days for the emissary to make it to the village the force had used as a refuge for themselves, and he was lucky I had tailed him, since I had to kill several monsters which would have eaten him alive.
When he announced my orders, they disarmed and set about disarming the siege weaponry almost immediately and with relief, at which point I clapped dramatically from atop a makeshift watch tower.
I wanted to savor the atmosphere, but lacked time or motivation to do so, instead I simply told them I would need a group of volunteers to accompany me then gave the emissary a secret password to give upon his return.
The volunteers were five in number, a mix of people I recognised as ones we had assisted during my first trip to the frontlines and newcomers. We moved fast, and for the entire trip I had to use magic to keep myself refreshed, then the night before we were to arrive at Kanelsia I checked the lingering burn. The blistered flesh had scabbed over, healing well but at a normal pace, I was down a significant deal of strength.
The next day, my group made our way to the rest of the Kanelsian forces, I magically formed and stood upon a stage, proclaiming I intended to liberate their kingdom from the cancerous figure destroying it from within. They all looked relieved, and I told them that I was heading to the demon territory before I did so, then once again waved to them as I ignored their pleas to wait, stopping only to launch myself onto the wall with magic.
The divine beast was pleased to see me, and told me it had seen no one dare to trespass, however it couldn't help when I asked if it knew what phantasm haunted the kingdom. Moving quickly I ran past the demons to the teleporter, waving at the commander to follow so I didn't waste any time.
Though perturbed by my intrusion and indecorum, the king told the commander to put his sword away when he finally made it through the teleporter himself. I then fully explained the situation, and made a declaration. "Two centuries of insular neutrality were brought to an end because you didn't know what was happening in the world, this bloodshed and waste of life can't happen again. Come with me, rid them off their puppet master, then make peace at the Newland summit."
The commander tried to argue, but the king silenced him, admitting that they had acted as the savage beasts they were so angry at being regarded as. Decisive didn't do the man justice, the king swore to join me, along with his commanders, to be certain we wipe the evil from the land.
It took time for him to summon his commanders back from their frontline postings and explain the situation, but we were at the wall by nightfall, making a speech about how we would fight together to liberate them come morning.
Whilst initially awkward the king broke the ice eventually, as he looked around and could see the suffering the war had wrought, he apologised to the humans who were just as, if not more so to blame.
Nothing makes an impact, like a king prostrating themselves.
Come daws light, my retinue reconvened announcing it was only right that some Kanelsians chip in as well, and remained adamant when I told them they would likely die. Unwilling to squash their pride or the significance of humans and demons fighting side by side, the ten of us left.
The city streets were deserted, except for the crucifixion posts that lined them, and I had to tell the others to stand back as my old self creeped in.
I managed to hold him at bay as I cleansed the city of the malevolent aura that had seeped into it through the blood of innocents.
Progress was slow, not from threat, but because I had to cleanse the city as we moved, apparently feeding on the suffering if I didn't.
When we finally reached the castle, the humans told us about how pristine and regal it used to be, mourning its memory as we walked through its tainted halls of desiccated corpses.
None of us had a clue what manner of creature would do this, nor did we believe it when he found out.
Entering the throne room, we found ourselves in a room once so grand, it could now be considered a cathedral of ruin and desecration.
Rather than a priest however there was a monstrous amalgamation of everything I deemed guilty, and it apparently sensed that fleeting thought of mine.
"Guilty? Me? You are the guilty one, judge or no, you are guilty, and I will end your terror, as I judge you." I was horrified, confused, I knew this man. His face had followed me for a thousand lifetimes, and a thousand worlds. I knew him well as the man who betrayed me.
Everything in that moment was haunting, his voice and visage a drop in the ocean compared to the fact he was there at all.
Paralysed by ignorance I didn't even react as he launched a gory spear of blood, bone and viscera at me, not until I noticed someone take the blow for me.
There were no tragic last words, no moment of desperate struggle, his end came instantly, a fact I was most grateful for since the one it was meant for deserved far worse. I apologised to the others, taking responsibility for all that happened in a meaningless way, then told them to wait outside the chamber.
As they moved to follow my order, he made to target them, ranting maniacally about my allies' shared guilt but I defended them as tears began to fall. "You saved me all those lifetimes ago, when the missiles rained down on me, all I could think was how thankful I was for you. Let me do the same for you now."
His rage flared as he released a barrage of gore spears at me, now blind to the others and continuing to rage at me. Seeing him like that defiled my every memory of him, but there was nothing I could do, his suffering was absolute.
From his raving I learned quite a bit, but had no chance to explain or talk as the barrage continued to intensify using the piles of bodies littering the room as ammunition.
That was my means of ending it though, tapping my right foot, a glyph of purification spread out and rid him of his attack but as it did he started dragging the abomination he called a body around with unnatural agility.
No longer possessing a humanoid form, His torso, which was tumorous and putrefying, and face which was deformed and riddled with spiky growths were all I could recognise. His normal arms were now bladed bone, and two small deformed arms sprouted from his shoulders. Below his waist were a number of legs that seemed to trip over each other as he moved, backed by a tail trailing thirty feet or so of more bladed bone and ending in a fleshy spiked club.
I told him I would have let him kill me if it would have ended his suffering and he swung the horrifying appendage at me. I had hoped to allow him to vent a fraction of his rage, but as it struck my barrier he howled in agony.
Unable to even offer him that, I apologised and offered to end him quickly, then he stopped for a second, screaming that if he could die he wouldn't have been there, then listed all the ways he tried as my heart broke. "I will end this for you, you won't be the first immortal to die by my hand, and one day I will bring a reckoning to the god who put us here."
His eyes squinted as I said the word god, as close as I imagine he could get to looking shocked, which he must have been upon hearing the most antithetic person he knew talk of such things.
I then raised and he took my left hand, I apologised and explained I would need to restore it, then stretched out my right and after placing it on his chest, clenched and ripped his soul out. As I did, the mutated flesh rotted away, then his passing soul asked what was happening and I explained. "I'll never forgive all you have done, did you hear me through the madness? I hope you did, I want you to know everything."
"I did, my mind won't process anything but battle for a while though, Why? You owe me nothing, why help me?"
"Do you think of that knowledge as help? No, I hope it destroys you." His face was bitter.
"Proof you're a good man, if you were any good at causing pain, you would know every day I exist is my punishment and truth is my respite."
As his soul dissipated the demon king touched me on the shoulder and healed me, asking me to explain.
I shook my head, tears still falling, I produced a memory orb so he knew I wasn't trying to keep anything said from then, but said I would only discuss it all at the summit. Then my body reached its limit and I collapsed.