AbyssalRoadTrip
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Abyssal Road Trip - 122 - Born this way
🕑 Added 2021-10-05 12:45:25 +0000 UTCAmdirlain stopped inside the camp’s boundary, and without turning regarded the Portal in True Sight. The blood-splattered ground marked it, and she could perceive how to interact with it. She was considering a route deeper into the camp but the mercenaries within pushed her towards a contact she’d been avoiding. Rather than tip her hand her Profile gained another Use Name, something excluded by default.
“Ebusuku, I hope you and Farhad are having fun. If you are in the Abyss, I’ve just recently arrived in Jinamizi. I’m on the edge of the mercenary camp near the entry from the Plane of Portals. You can contact me for a while with the Use Name Mayhem.”
The reply wasn’t slow in coming, and the spell’s energy hissed the message out to her.
“So many spells fizzling out, be they using J, Trouble, and others that were tried. Lots in the Sisterhood have questions about a certain Succubus. Honestly, I could tell them I’d not seen her about the Abyss since her form’s destruction. They tried to summon a Viper for some reason—after the summoning chamber’s destruction they’re focused nearly exclusively on her. I want to know how you ashed Balnérith’s Book of Names. I will be there soon, by myself; Farhad can build up his strength.”
Just as well I didn’t risk crossing Usd’ghi. I don’t know anything about a Book of Names.
Merged in with the landscape, Amdirlain wasn’t visible when Ebusuku arrived. Her sabres were at the ready, but after being attacked herself, it was an understandable precaution. The spells that once kept Amdirlain from her thoughts clear to Advanced Telepathy. An energy net lay across Ebusuku’s mind to prevent incursion and alert her to the attempt. Yet it was a net, and Amdirlain slipped delicately through the gaps.
The wards weren’t just keeping intruders out to protect knowledge she possessed. Clear silver thoughts blazed as Ebusuku took in the landscape. There were none of the dark, twisted emotions held in other Demonic minds. The Plane caused revulsion to churn within her. Beneath her feet, the tacky demonic blood spiked concern for her little sister that let her push the familiar aversion aside. Death’s familiar energy caressed her skin, and ghostly images appeared in Ebusuku’s awareness. The dead showed as if they were held aloft with wounds blooming open, yet the cause was unexpectedly unseen.
There was no conscious Power use Ebusuku merely gave the caress attention. Amdirlain’s recent foes shown in their moment of death were recognised by type. Along with the name a list of traits such as immunity to lightning, poison and others energies rushed through her mind. Grim satisfaction warred with curiosity, as focus brought no other details forth.
The near-instantaneous nature of their deaths was clear, but the void in their open wounds itched across her mind. A memory flashed to show a scene Amdirlain knew but the perspective one she hadn’t seen. A Demon grabbing for a dancing Succubus decapitated in mid-air, the limb that had become a weapon wreathed in blackness but invisible to Death Sight. In memory and present, her thoughts wondered at how the life it had claimed couldn’t echo the source of its death. Serene youthful beauty had radiated a longing that triggered thoughts within her. Desires that Ebusuku had suffocated for so long and—in that memory—his painful absence was again shoved aside. Fresh memories bloomed, but Ebusuku set them aside gently, not risking associating memories of his passionate caresses with the vileness that would never release her.
Scuff marks had left hollows now filled by spilled blood, but with a foot tap she measured their depths. Vibrations pulsed images through her mind as Ebusuku’s Tremor Sense measured how light the swirling motions of their target had been. Trouble finding yet more trouble amused her. Perhaps that old name and her new were suitable her. Sixty-two dead within the pulse of a Mortal’s racing heart were a match for Mayhem. Ground churned out from the centre showed the first demon’s arrival, and the last, patterns in the soil told the wounds’ cause and thin swirling lines in the soil joined them all.
Unbothered by Mayhem’s absence, Ebusuku stepped to the death spiral’s centre, her size shifting in mid-motion. Her feet settled into the marks where the Demons’ target had stood. The spiderweb fissures radiating outwards from both feet were noted. Boots vanished into her storage ring, and Ebusuku’s will shaped lines from her skin. The alienness of the concept pushed back against her will and called to mind fleeting memories of reality-warping places she pushed aside and locked the door on. Focused in the moment, she pushed again, and the spiderweb slowly grew until it lay across the efficient massacre.
Repeated attempts later, Protean still wouldn’t extend from webbing to produce the spears and Ebusuku shook her head. The smile that twitched across her lips echoed the genuine, proud amusement within. Amdirlain saw each attempt and the difference in their visualisation techniques were clear. Amdirlain had spun the shape to be instantly whole whereas Ebusuku attempted to grow each part from the previous.
Ebusuku stowed her weapons and settled down to wait for her little sister, with a 360-degree vision that was normal to Amdirlain. A strange affection battled jealousy as a memory of Farhad refusing to explain how they’d met drifted upwards. Jealousy spiked and she growled pushing the memory away, choosing to trust him. Ebusuku waited patiently for Mayhem to decide the situation wasn’t a trap planning to chew her out if she appeared too quickly. Though spying didn’t sit easily with her, Amdirlain stayed in her thoughts. An experience that was equal parts educational and unsettling as Ebusuku catalogued the enemies that could hide in plain sight on the open salt flat.
Ebusuku’s listing struggled to keep her focus from another memory that continually rose. When the list ran out, she returned to the memories of fighting near the little Succubus, before Lêdhins’ threat caused her to break one she’d decided was family. It wasn’t until she slipped and the memory hit unexpectedly that Amdirlain almost gave herself away. The memory showed the usual seriousness from Farhad, but Ebusuku’s reaction surprised Amdirlain. Rather than scorn there was a surge of bright emotions that were completely unexpected.
At the camp’s edge, Amdirlain resumed her new Succubus form. Sabres re-appeared in Eubusuku’s hand as threat assessment jumped and then settled. A smile showed as her Telepathy slid from the stranger’s mind as it had from Trouble’s, and Eubusuku grew strangely hopeful. It took her a few attempts and a stronger spell than expected, but a faint Sisterhood’s Sigil showed beneath a glamour. Its weakened state along with the Succubus’ impenetrable thoughts were all the confirmation that Eubusuku needed to chance that it was a legitimate contact. Her swords away, Eubusuku waited. It was only when Amdirlain spread her hands away from her sides to flick a BrÍn hand sign greeting that Eubusuku willed herself closer.
“Your personality seems very pointed now,” Eubusuku said, her gaze lingering on Amdirlain’s new form, as caution weighted on her. “What name did you tell me to use?”
The triple exposure was strange for Amdirlain to track, hearing Eubusuku’s thoughts and the words from two perspectives when she spoke.
[Advanced Telepathy [Ad](7->8)]
Amdirlain gave a smile at Eubusuku’s sense of caution, glad her own paranoia wasn’t out of place. “Mayhem. Should we go somewhere more secure to talk? Or just put concealments in place?”
“Did you want to put them up?” Eubusuku asked. “You’ve improved with your concealments—by a lot—you’ve obviously been working hard. How many concealment layers do you have?”
Eubusuku’s mind added the concept of such disciplined focus to the strangeness of the Demonic fledgling. Regret for failing her rose again and twisted claws inside her, yet her composure didn’t twitch.
Amdirlain already knew her spell had shown Eubusuku the details, so she answered honestly. “Three at present, I wanted to ensure you’d get confirmation without being vulnerable. If concealments do not draw attention here, add them. Couldn’t you tell the number I have?”
“Just checking. Fine, I’ll put them up; there will be lots of sharp ears.”
Eubusuku quickly had spells stacked in place, concealing their presence in multiple ways, including a few from a spell list Amdirlain made a note to find. It was unclear from Eubusuku’s thoughts they represented stronger protections, but everything had weaknesses.
Eubusuku didn’t give Amdirlain a moment to say anything the moment she’d finished setting the spells “How did you ash the book? It was in Balnérith’s quarters.”
“I didn’t know about a book being turned to ash,” objected Amdirlain sincerely.
Eubusuku shook her head at Amdirlain’s protest, the disbelief in her thoughts openly shared. “We’ve been gathering information, so don’t give me that. Discoveries paint a curious picture: your True Name was glowing when the book turned to ash. She built the book to bind her precious Lómë and Demons to her. It contained enchantments that should have held for time unending, gone. This a little over eleven planar rotations after your name went in it. Over eighty of the longest serving among the Sisterhood bailed within instants of each other. Her dignity got crotch punched, screaming for J to be found, and Naz’rilca to be brought. I would have paid to see her kill the messenger who broke the news Naz’rilca is planar locked. ‘Excuse me, Lady Bitchiness, but you’ll have to visit her yourself’. Not to mention Ùeqräkas going boom, wasting all the effort and bribes spent trying to regain control. Multiple hits to her dignity in the same cycle; it has my grandmother in a splendid mood.”
Eighty? Did not all gather, or did they destroy some of those believed fled? Or were the fifty-seven the survivors?
“Are we still playing the game where you want to learn all my secrets?” asked Amdirlain, wanting to change the topic.
Eubusuku’s mind showed energy signatures shimmering through tent walls weird pulsing thermal images, yet Amdirlain was a complete void. “You don’t have any Abyssal Heat. I’d ask if you Ascended, but you should still show energy.”
“That isn’t an answer,” declared Amdirlain firmly.
“Why did you send me a message if we’re going to play guessing games?”
Amdirlain just shook her head. “That isn’t an answer either.”
Eubusuku glared intently at Amdirlain before she broke into a pleased smile. “Fine, we’re still playing.”
“Lêdhins Ascended, he’s now a Demon Lord,” declared Amdirlain, and Eubusuku’s eyes hardened at his name. “I don’t know if he’s still using the same name, but his banner is a war mattock with streams of blood coming from it. Also, I’ve learnt he likely is levelling new classes again since it would have combined the old ones into his new state.”
“I tried for years afterwards to scry him. How did you find this out?”
Amdirlain shrugged and used a kernel of truth. “It seems his protections aren’t in place any longer. I used some old blood you sprayed across the wall in Giza. He was on a battlefield with a bunch of other BrÍn following him. He had a lightning aura dancing over his skin; aura and skin were both a shade of red.”
Eubusuku chews her bottom lip as her thoughts raced, weighting up risks and kept coming back to more information. “Can you scry him again?”
“Would you prefer the blood from the wall?” Amdirlain asked.
The moment the words left Amdirlain’s lips, Eubusuku’s hand snapped out, and she clicked her fingers impatiently. “Even better, give it to me.”
Amdirlain dropped some of the dried blood in Eubusuku’s hand, and an image appeared between them. Lêdhins himself looked the same as last she’d scried him. He was on another battlefield with no BrÍn about him. Torrents of lightning cascaded away as bright as plasma burning the air. Demons wearing various insignia fell in scores, as others tried to flee, only to be slowed by the massed forces behind them.
He’s putting fucking grinding boots on. I need to find hordes to start killing.
Eubusuku cut off the spell, her mind racing, and Amdirlain felt her regret as she hit upon an option.
She’s got enough favour in Hell to become an Arch-Devil?
“I thought you were a Demon, not a Devil,” Amdirlain blurted out
Eubusuku shot her a dangerous look and thoughts blazed with suspicion of how Amdirlain could know. Checking her mental wards, Eubusuku replied to the remark. “Succubi can journey between Hell and the Abyss, remember.”
“Do you want to be in either?”
The laughter that erupted from Eubusuku carried shards of bitterness and frustration, and when she calmed, she looked at Amdirlain with unexpected sympathy. “Little fledgling, I was born here. Everything I’ve done to stay out of Hell or the Abyss has resulted in me right back in either’s webs.”
“You hate being here; just leave,” insisted Amdirlain. “Don’t bind yourself to Asmodeus to get enough power to level the playing field with Lêdhins.”
“I told you I’d see him punished for what he did,” Eubusuku growled, biting off every word..
“Not at the cost of your hope to get free, no way. There is a redemption path here; would you ever get free from that sort of deal with Hell?”
“I’m not a Fallen, Mayhem, or whatever your name is,” Eubusuku rebutted. “I’m a born Succubi. We don’t get their chance at freedom from this place. Should I ask how you’re in my mind when I can’t feel you there? There is no other way to know I was considering a deal with Hell.”
Amdirlain kept herself serene even as she wanted to grimace. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t sure if I could trust anyone here.”
“You can’t, so that’s sensible,” Eubusuku said. “Tell me how you’re in my mind. I won’t take offence or attack you, but I’d like to know the weakness in my defences. What sort of Demon are you, giving an apology?”
Amdirlain considered refusing only for a moment despite the truth showing in her mind. “I learnt to be a Psion from the Githerazi. Your mind shows you’re trustworthy, at least for those you don’t despise. You couldn’t give such trust to Farhad unless there is something inside you that is worth trusting. So I’ll ask you a question: do you want out of here?”
“What would that cost me?” asked Eubusuku suspiciously.
“Let’s talk in the Elemental Plane of Earth, or another. It’s not a safe conversation for anywhere in the Abyss.”
“The Plane of Fire then, we’re both immune, if you’ve not lost that somehow,” said Eubusuku, her mind having raced through countless options in seconds.
“Should I open a Gate from here?” asked Amdirlain even as she hoped she wasn’t making a mistake.
Eubusuku considered her momentarily before she motioned her to go ahead. “It’s your turn, but a Gate will need to be outside the boundary marker.”
“I know,” replied Amdirlain, even as she moved to set it up.
The Plane beyond was a boundless inferno; the very sight of it clawed ineffectively at her living memory, insisting she needed to flee. Eubusuku stepped through without hesitation, and Amdirlain followed, letting the Gate seal behind her. Waves of the inferno swirled around them, but they floated unaffected in its midst. The Plane’s utter lack of gravity had them just hovering with no sense of direction.
“If it can get you free from being a Succubus, would you swear service to me?”
Eubusuku’s laughter wasn’t unexpected, but it cut off when she grew into her Fallen form. The inferno shining off her feather’s golden cores, even as the reds and black mingled with the fires.
“This shouldn’t be possible. You were a young Succubus. I felt the Abyssal Heat in you. How are you now a Fallen?”
Amdirlain ignored the question and motioned for her to stop. “Would you swear service to me? It will give you a chance to get free of both. Though I warn you, I don’t know how remote the chance will be.”
“Who are you? None of the names you’ve given out in the past. I’ll not swear to someone whose name I don’t know, but you’re an impossibility, so maybe there is some hope what you’re promising isn’t a lie.”
Her choice of words made Amdirlain blink in surprise, and she nodded to Eubusuku respectfully. “Hope, that wasn’t something I thought you’d believe in Eubusuku.”
“I’d thought I’d lost him, and you reunited us. That gives you a lot of leeways. But know upfront, betray me, and I’ll bring you down,” Eubusuku declared, words burning with her fierceness.
“My name is Amdirlain. Lady of the Accursed, Freedom, Hope, and New Beginnings.” Amdirlain stated having switched from Abyssal to High Elven. The words were no less difficult to say—any title was still alien to her mindset—but she wouldn’t sully it with Abyssal.
Eubusuku exhaled as she shivered as if the words twitched through her bones before she gave a smile.
“Why would you accept service from a Succubus?”
“You were born a Succubus. It wasn’t your choices that set you in place. Your parentage determined that. So I ask you, would you like a chance? Would you like that hope?” asked Amdirlain, keeping her focus on Eubusuku’s intensity in killing Demons and contempt for the Abyss.
“You don’t have any silly rules about being celibate, do you?” Eubusuku enquired, her attempt at playfulness strained. “That would be a non-starter.”
Amdirlain groaned and covered her face for a moment as she regained her composure, though her voice still rang with suppressed amusement when she spoke. “No, you and Farhad can keep breaking your place to your heart’s desire. You won’t need to come into the Abyss. I have lots that I need help with outside it. If nothing else, more advice I can trust will always be welcome. I don’t give orders, but I’ve got a long list you can choose things from to do.”
“Why does Farhad keep your secrets?” questioned Eubusuku.
“You’d have to ask him, but maybe it’s because of this.”
Amdirlain let Ki glow through her skin, and Eubusuku looked at the golden light that shone cleanly even amid the churning flames.
“You’re an Anar! The bitch put your name into a book enchanted to bind night Souls and entities of darkness! I Eubusuku, granddaughter of Naamah, daughter of Lilith, swear my service to Amdirlain for as long as she keeps the promises given me this day.”
With no prompt making an appearance, Amdirlain went with the flow. “I, Amdirlain, accept your Oath for as long as you remain true to my trust.”
[Oath Acceptance Option:
- Accept sworn entity and keep in current species
- Accept and Promote - condensed memories*
- Accept and Promote - full memories**
Current promotion capacity: 4
Note: Sworn entity’s age will require three capacity slots for promotion. Regardless of the outcome, a promotion attempt will consume this capacity.
Challenge survival required for this promotion (Calculated difficulty adjusted by species):
*High
**Extreme
Warning: Breach of Oath’s conditions on your part will release the entity from service with no Faith restored. Such an event will also lower Faithful’s morale on all worlds for one local solar cycle.
]
Amdirlain considered the options before she locked eyes with Eubusuku. “There are some choices, and I feel they should be yours, not mine.”
“Tell me then,” Eubusuku said, motioning for Amdirlain to share.
Amdirlain mentally relayed the notification she saw and felt Eubusuku’s awareness twitch in surprise.
It didn’t take a moment to start growling her reply, though her words unexpectedly softened partway through. “My memories are mine, but that keep feels permanent to me. If you think promotion will change me from a Succubus, please would you take the chance for me? Tell Farhad it was my choice and that I realised I loved him. I took this chance for us; I hope when I get done, you’ll let me accept his request for marriage.”
Amdirlain moved forward impulsively and blurred into her Wood Elf form to be of a height to hug Eubusuku. “Of course I will. I Promote you with full memories.”
[Faith: -3]
Eubusuku didn’t change but vanished from her arms. Panic raced through Amdirlain and then froze at the notification that came.
[Promotion challenge starting:-
Status: Pending.
Note: Only one entity may undertake a promotion challenge at a time.
Warning: Administrator notified; exception scenario detected.]
[Achievement: Dream an Impossible Dream.
Condition: Promote an entity from one Planar polarity directly to an opposing one.
Note: Really?! What did you just do?! Any other stray kittens you want to find a bloody home for?
Reward: Tier 6 High Priest Prestige options unlocked for Faithful.
]
Amdirlain mentally reviewed the notification repeatedly before she tossed her head back with laughter; when she calmed down, she eventually replied aloud. “Guess it’s one way to become a crazy cat lady.”
* * *
Another Gate settled her in the Outlands, hidden away on the riverbank in her Domain. Amdirlain settled into her mindscape and quickly contacted Laodice. “Can you tell me anything about promotion challenges?”
Laodice met her abrupt question with silence and as Amdirlain went to beg. “Your question is unexpected. I’m not always watching what you do. What are promotion challenges? What have you been doing?”
“I accepted an Oath of service from Eubusuku and gave her the promotion option to keep her memories,” Amdirlain replied.
“What type of servants do you have, Amdirlain?” asked Laodice.
Amdirlain felt the word stick but forced it out. “Angels.”
“Oh, Father!” exclaimed Laodice. “What you call a promotion challenge, I know of simply as ‘The Trials’. They take place in the Maze levels that sit beneath the Forge. There are always exits, but they require a sacrifice, a price, or a risk. Her choices will determine her fate, and there isn’t anything you can do but wait. From what I know of your experiences, your Soul transitioned through a level of the Maze.”
“So it could be years before she gets free?”
“Father won’t distort time the way he did for you, but it could be hours, weeks or never. You’ll know when she gets out or if she’s destroyed. Don’t get your hopes up failing the challenge will mean her destruction. Once entered, the Maze is her Home Plane for the challenge’s duration.”
“No, what have I done?” groaned Amdirlain.
“Have faith in your choices, Amdirlain.” Laodice consoled.
Comments
Xtriver
Ooooooh exciting!
