The Prince of Demons

Lux

It had been four days, but Nil still hadn’t woken up. Ever since Ein’s birthday celebration, he just laid there in the bed breathing. His brother had checked in on him occasionally. Nil’s mom refused to leave his side. Azzeck stopped by once in a while, along with his grandparents, but I think they were covering her work. I had barely seen his uncles, but I imagined they were given a time sensitive job. Julius, Cesar, and the mother visited once. I checked on Nil’s , and Orga did an amazing job repairing them. How Nil didn’t die is beyond me. He was breathing, his heart was beating, but Nil was not waking. I poked him a few times; nothing. I laid on him, keeping him warm as I had these last couple days. Nil used that really scary to save us; it clearly had a heavy toll. Please wake up soon. What happens to me if you die? I don’t want to be alone.

*

Nil

All around me was blank. An empty nothingness in every direction. Where am I? I remember using that , immense pain, and then this. I tried walking around a little, despite the empty gray all around, it was actually a room that was roughly thirty feet by thirty feet. I waited around for what felt like two days, and nothing. This was so boring as I just practiced . I could see my body, but not feel a thing. For some reason, I wasn’t hungry, thirsty, sleepy, or need to use the restroom; I did not find this comforting. Am I dead? Or just really close? I do not want to die for the second time this young. On the start of what I think was the third day (maybe the late second day?) someone appeared. Or something. It was roughly my height and was a walking outline of a body; it was honestly unsettling to look at. There were no details, just a faint outline around its existence. After a few minutes, it finally started moving.

“What the forl are you?” I probed, trying to figure out what I was looking at.

“Swearing? What a naughty child.” a feminine voice tutted at me.

“Do you have any idea how unsettling you are to look at? This is going to haunt me for a while.” I replied as I did not know what I was looking at.

“I figured this form would be best for trying to put you at ease.” the voice said, sounding mildly confused.

“What was your sample? Blind children? People with no cognitive ability? Those so desperate to live they were willing to say, ‘this odd outline form is honestly pleasant to view’?” I probed. This was creepy to put it mildly.

“You are quite a smart mouth. Wait, how does a kid know those words?” the voice asked confused, before an immense pressure washed over me.

“That explains it, and what is wrong with your soul. Or nothing is wrong with it, you simply came from another world and got reborn in this one.” The voice explained after a few moments.

“You are a Lord, or the representative of one. Given the circumstances, I think you might be Lord Utol.” I deduced. Might not have wanted to sass her.

“Correct, I am Lord Utol. You learned some of the history and religion of Tenebrae while you were here. So, what is your name?” Lord Utol questioned me.

“Nil Sathanas Crowthorne. How close did I come to dying to be seeing you?” I responded. This was not good.

“Using the name from Tenebrae, bonus points. Nil, you honestly came into a pretty gray zone. Your mother and that other one healed your body before it actually died. The from whatever that was quite literally shattered your body. You held on just long enough for your body to be brought back from the brink as you passed out. Now, as a precaution, your soul was grabbed in case your body was actually dead, as putting a living soul into a dead body does not end well and is quite a mess. Now I have to decide whether you should be dead or not.” Lord Utol explained. Oh. That close.

“The Arbiter. Are you going to be less cryptic than Kron was on the criterion on whether I live or die?” I asked, wanting to know what was happening from here.

“You have met Kron? That explains why you always pray to their statue. And if you want to live, I make the decision based on what I feel you deserve, but before anything else, when have you talked to Kron?” Lord Utol checked with a surprised tone.

“When I got his we talked a little and he? she? they? decided to let me live, and then when I pulled off a pretty powerful Kron and I had a chat and made a deal to talk at Temple when I prayed at their statue. How do you know I only prayed to theirs?” I answered her.

“They. We do watch some of the major figures and their children at Temple, see if any donations are going to spring up, or we might get a change in representation. A lot of us noticed you praying to Kron, and thought it was weird because they are overwhelmingly neutral and virtually never talks to , or anyone else for that matter. Kron is quite a loner. Thank you for telling me why; that is helpful.” Utol replied with a happy tone to her voice.

“How is that helpful?” I inquired.

“Simple, you matter to Kron. You are someone with a direct connection. Kron might have even given you as a .” Utol taunted me. I could feel her scheming.

“You want to use me as leverage.” I concluded, trying not to sigh. That might be good.

“You catch on quick.” Utol complimented me. It felt so hollow.

“What do you gain from this? Aren’t the Lords a collective group that work together?” I checked. Utol erupted in laughter.

“Not even close. We made Tenebrae, among other things working together. Generally, there are two factions and Kron is a neutral peacekeeper who generally stays out of things.” Utol told me between fits of laughter.

“I would rather not put Kron in an awkward spot because of these unfortunate events. Why not impartially judge whether I should live or die on my own merits.” I offered. Utol just laughed harder.

“I am a Lord, not a perfect being. The fact you matter to Kron is definitely going to make me want to keep you alive and use the leverage.” Utol taunted. Was that good news?

“I mean, I am a Crown Prince of a good size empire. I could kick something your way to help you; you aren’t exactly popular among the people.” I offered. I could feel a powerful gaze burning into me.

“Good size empire, that’s a great one. Speranza is massive. I guess repaying me with support in Tenebrae is pretty tempting, and given you prayed exclusively to Kron’s statue ever since you entered a Temple, so you seem pretty good on your word. That does not seem satisfying though, as Kron owing me is much better in my opinion.” Utol replied. This was going great.

“So, while you think, is there a way to stop my likelihood of returning? Other than increasing my and more?” I checked, as this was not something I wanted to happen twice.

“You your and your mind to withstand the taxing effects of and have not thought about doing the same to your body?” Utol asked in a taunting tone.

“Like working out?” I probed. I felt her smirk in response.

“My bad, you are not from Tenebrae. Training your body can help increase your resistance to , its effects, and make it a lot more durable.” Utol explained with a chuckle.

“Why have I not been doing that then? Someone should have told me.” I pressed. Why wasn't it?

“I am guessing your problem is typically immense or repeated from casting ? is much more efficient for withstanding its effects, as your body helps more with than , unless you go well beyond like you did.” Utol elaborated for me.

“So, I have a for and , what about for my body?” I wondered as an idea began forming.

“Yes, you could obtain a for . What’s with this line of questions?” Utol asked, not grasping what I was after.

“In the few times it was explained to me, I thought was for your body?” I inquired.

“I got time to kill; I did make you wait two days after all not realizing what a chip you were. is for your body to withstand and it being expended. That is through the way of your . is for your body to become its namesake tougher, faster, and stronger. As most from basic to even ones work off your body, so if you want to be a faster runner for example you can either practice running and run day after day or increase your . Increasing one will slightly increase the other. Obviously, practice and training like actually running are still necessary.” Utol explained, clearly not grasping what I was after.

“That makes some sense. But how does doing one slightly increase the other?” I queried, making sure I had the right idea.

“When you a you expend through your , and your body supports your . The other way is true, when you use a you are putting the into your body directly, so your body is taking the stress of the while your support and supply. As far as I can tell by your questions, you primarily cast , so your teachers likely focused on increasing the main portion enduring the cast, rather than the supporting. And again, why are you asking me?” Utol lectured.

“I am almost there. My is , and I have been told it is quite pure, where there is not a lot I can do to make it better. I have a pretty neutral for my , and the oriented for my , what could you give me as a for my that would not influence that fact?” I asked her.

“Trying to figure out what you can get from me? You are a bold one.” Utol laughed.

“I get that a lot, or something similar at least. But is it possible?” I pressed, wanting my answer.

“Yes. I can give you a to use as a . Now, despite its name, it is neutral, and does not possess the . But what would possess me to give that to you?” Utol asked, clearly amused by my blatant scheming.

“How about a wager? I win, you give me a and let me return to the world of the living where I do you a favor to help your position on Tenebrae. You win, I become your bargaining chip to use as leverage against Kron and I take my chances he is willing to save me.” I propositioned her.

“I don’t have to make a deal with you. That deal seems to favor you more than me. And I like being able to have leverage on Kron; that is so incredibly rare you could not even fathom.” Utol retorted. Fair point.

“You win either way. I either give you support in Tenebrae, or you get leverage on Kron. One outcome favors me more than you, and the other favors you more than me. It is fair.” I told her

“I could also just choose you should be dead and let this all be over.” Utol pointed out.

“That is no fun. How many chances are you going to get to make a wager against a person from another world where one of the outcomes is leverage on Kron?” I asked Utol. I could feel her amusement.

“I can get that either way.” Utol laughed at me.

“What if I choose death? Just deny you the chance?” I checked. Utol paused for a second.

“What makes you think that is an option?” Utol probed, her voice icy.

“I believe your exact phrasing included, ‘if you want to live’ and you mentioned putting a living soul in a dead body is problematic, so putting a soul that doesn’t want to live into a living body should be problematic as well. So, I can choose death and deny you what you want as well.” I explained. This was undeniably a gamble.

Utol went silent and turned the outline away. A minute passed. More silence. Bullseye, I was right. Dangerous game for sure. Utol still can just say death and cut her losses, but I think she wants the leverage on Kron too bad. A terrible sensation washed over me when the outline turned to face me.

“I pick the game, and in return for that I want to change the terms. You win, you get a and one of your choosing, within reason. I win, you become a powerful bargaining chip against Kron to get a favor from them and generate support from me on Tenebrae and are not allowed to tell them of this wager.” Utol countered. Her presence was suffocating.

“What guarantee do I have that you will pick a wager I could even win? And you do realize I get to live in both cases?” I asked. I liked my guarantee though.

“Same could be said to you, you have knowledge from another world I have never seen. You could just as easily pick a trick game. Don’t worry, it will be something obviously possible for you to win, I am not going to try and cheat to beat a , that would be disgraceful. And I realize that, as I deemed the feat of dodging the lances while saving the other three in addition to realizing that loophole as worthy of living. You are going to be one entertaining person to watch, so I don’t want you to die this young over such a cowardly attack.” Utol informed me.

“That’s good, I guess. So, what is the game we are going to play?” I asked to which Utol smiled. It was just the outline of a mouth grinning.

“We will be playing Realization. There is a deck of cards, we take turns shuffling and drawing a hand of three cards. You use what you draw to make something to defeat the Realization of the other person. We will play an example hand first. I want to know what someone from a foreign world can do.” Utol explained as the mouth got wider.