The Prince of Demons

Helga

After the had begun to be , Crown Prince Nil’s body went limp as Grand Archmagus Solomon was launched across the room. Crown Prince Nil’s soul appeared to have completely left his body. It was something completely unprecedented. took many forms, but this was something I certainly didn’t understand. Whenever one of us got close to Nil, a way beyond his ability propelled us back. Whatever it was, Grand Archmagus Solomon ordered us to not try again and that was not something to be tested. Emperor Azzeck and Empress Senna were understandably quite distraught. Grand Archmagus Solomon ordered as many available and to the room as soon as possible. It took less than fifteen minutes to scramble an impressive array of . It took them another five to set up an incredible array of barriers, investigative spells, and protection for the room as well as to see what was happening to Crown Prince Nil.

Then Crown Prince Nil took a breath. We all felt it. The in the room just seemed to bend to his will. Then came the second breath and the light returned to his fierce amber eyes as the air seemed to leave the room. We all were feeling it. What is happening? Was this the power of his ? Crown Prince Nil’s third breath brought me to my knees. All the previous effects were amplified, and the in the room contained traces of his. That wasn’t right. The ambient in the air felt like it was kneeling down before his, that it was serving his bidding. We were entities that were simply in its way. This power was absolutely suffocating.

“Nil!” Empress Senna called out. His eyes snapped to her, and he used a much faster and cleaner than his previous ones to go in front of her.

The sensation stopped. There was a stunned silence in the room. You could hear a cotton ball drop it was so quiet. What finally broke the silence was a loud growl from Nil’s stomach. He was motioning at his mom like he was hungry. Emperor Azzeck just started to laugh; Grand Archmagus Solomon joined in. The rest of us did not want to move or make a sound. How on Tenebrae did a baby do that?

“I will feed you in a second Nil. I am just glad you are okay.” Empress Senna cried as she hugged her baby close. Emperor Azzeck was next to her, petting his son’s head.

“Your Imperial Highnesses, I am not sure what happened, but as you can clearly see, he has successfully the . I believe that has been enough excitement for today; I will be expecting the payment as we discussed.” Grand Archmagus announced.

“Grand Archmagus Solomon, I know as a supporter of the Mage Freedom Act I cannot order these Mages to forget what they just witnessed, or compel them to keep it a secret. Can I ask for you to please use your discretion to keep this under wraps.” Emperor Azzeck asked. A few of the Mages in the room looked surprised at the announcement.

“I understand your concerns Emperor Azzeck, for such a promising talent should be carefully hidden and protected. As he is to become my apprentice, I order all Mages in this room to forget what they have just witnessed, make no official reports, and not to breathe or record a word of what has happened here even in private. Anyone who disobeys this order, or the intents of this order, shall be punished to the highest degree.” Grand Archmagus Solomon declared with a smile.

“Thank you Grand Archmagus Solomon. Come, Cesar, Helga, Magus Erli, it is time for us to leave.” Empress Senna ordered.

I quickly followed the Imperial Highnesses along with my brother and Magus Erli back to the carriage. We quickly left the Institution of Mages. Once inside, Empress Senna began to feed Crown Prince Nil. She and Emperor Azzeck were beaming with pride as they looked after their son. Lords of Tenebrae I pitied any siblings he may have. How do you compete with that? I got the distinct feeling my time watching Nil was going to become much more challenging. Just wait till he can walk and talk. He already was sitting upright; once he became more mobile this was going to be hell. The oddest part was, despite all that had transpired, Crown Prince Nil looked exactly the same. His eyes were the same shade of amber as Empress Senna, his skin was still that bone white of his father’s. His face seemed to take after Emperor Azzeck, but he had his mother’s pitch black hair. Crown Prince Nil’s horns were still little stubs so it was hard to tell which parent’s they would look like. Out of nowhere, the in the carriage became tense again as Crown Prince Nil’s eyes appeared to be glowing slightly. It was nowhere near as terrifying as before. This time was more of an awkward pressure than the kneel before your supreme ruler presence from before. Why was it different? I was not too familiar with so I wasn't sure if this was normal.

“Do not worry your Imperial Highnesses, it is normal for an to emit closer to its full effect upon being and further use depends on the Mage’s skill and familiarity with the .” Magus Erli quickly explained.

It was obvious from the lackluster response of Empress Senna and Emperor Azzeck they clearly already knew that. They did seem to appreciate her trying to inform them just in case so they didn’t panic. I did find his innate strength and talent quite comforting. Emperor Azzeck would be succeeded by someone just as if not stronger which was good for all of Speranza. On the other hand, I did pity my brother. He and Cleo had just had a healthy baby boy. It obviously distressed him on whether or not to allow his son near Crown Prince Nil. I can only imagine parents want their child to grow up strong and successful, and believe their child is truly gifted. I could only imagine what Cesar was feeling, especially given he had seen Crown Prince Nil and what he already has achieved. I had no idea how Cesar balanced it, or kept it from eating him up inside.

*

Nil

BOW BEFORE MY SUPREME POWER! KNEEL IN FRONT OF MY UNPARALLELED STRENGTH! YOUR DAYS OF PEACE ARE OVER FOOLISH MORTALS! I thought internally as I finally got this baby body to take a step. I am walking finally! Nine months and I can finally walk! Well technically ten months in Tenebrae.

I had learned a bit more about Tenebrae in the time that had passed. First, it used a thirteen month calendar, where each month was exactly twenty eight days. But the length of time is the same on Tenebrae, which was convenient to not have to relearn. It was also interesting as there was a Day of Reflections that didn’t belong to any month, and it was after my birthday but before the new year. I still don’t know all the months. Another thing I learned was the written language was completely different. So did I have something converting what they are saying for me or is the spoken language the same? Because of there was no way for me to tell.

I also learned Cesar has a son that’s slightly younger than me, but so far I was not able to figure out what his name was. I wasn’t sure what to think about him. Maybe meeting a new person won’t be so bad? That was to be decided later. Whenever Cesar wanted to slip away and spend some time with his son, my dad loved giving him grief about responsibilities and how he must keep doing his duties. Cesar usually retorted about a certain night in Rockhaven and how Empress Senna would be most keen to learn the details; it took seconds for my dad to cave after that threat. It usually ended up with my dad slacking and spending more time with me, which I wasn’t going to complain about. My mom would join us once she knew Cesar was gone. Cesar was out of luck if he wanted to slip away with my mom though because she was definitely holding a grudge for the times he pulled her away from me. He had nothing to hold over her head.

My dad swept me off the ground, spinning around while holding me above his head, excited I had just taken my first few steps. Just you wait, I can finally start exploring this castle. The last six months had been a cycle of me , practicing with my , and improving my in my free (alone) time while doing a little of each and trying to move my body when adults were around. For the longest while I could not tell what the was doing; I did it out of the not wanting to choke to death on my own . About a month ago I tried stabbing myself with a small sliver of wood I found to see if my body was changing in a way I just didn’t know. To my pleasant surprise no matter how hard I tried, the wood couldn’t pierce my skin. It also could be because I am a demon, but for now I was assuming made my body a bit stronger. Another reason I thought that was I didn’t get as tired after depleting my ; the physical toll just was not as severe. I could now around a bit, but if I couldn’t get back to my crib my parents would definitely increase their surveillance of me. Now that I thought about it, there was no way my room was unguarded at night. Who watched me at night?

As for my , it was a sink as far as I could tell. It did nothing. No matter how hard I tried to use it, there was just this sensation of exertion from my eyes. There was no visible effect of whatever it was doing. Even when I first used it, nothing. Kron was the Lord of Fate so I thought it would do something cool. All it did was eat my . The best I had gotten recently from it was the vague sensation that sometime in the next month I might see a bird. I honestly wasn't sure it even was from using the or how I thought it was weird I hadn’t really seen any birds. I was not going to neglect it though, as it had to do something. But now, now was the time for walking. I made some slightly better noises using my throat that almost resembled words now. My dad set me down, and I took a few more steps. Slow and steady. I shall soon have mobility. Currently it was step, step, fall. My crawling was good, so alternating between the two gave me some nice mobility. Hopefully I would get the coordination down of this baby body and be able to speak, but not speak so well my parents got suspicious. That is going to be a pain to try and get the balance right.

Best part was the falls were like I could feel the impact happening, but that was it. There was no pain. was quite convenient if this is what it does. Logically speaking it would make sense, but I had no way of knowing for sure. These adults aren’t exactly explaining this stuff to me. At least in a few nights I would finally be able to explore the castle a bit more. Maybe figure out who watches me at night. I haven’t detected anyone with but there was probably a way to hide from it. I smiled and made some syllables for my parents. When they seemed delighted it made me quite happy for some reason. I have got to stop zoning out sometimes.

*

Nox Abaddon Crowthorne

I sat in the corner watching my nephew. Brother, having me watch this kid is so beneath me. Like an absolute buffoon, I told my brother I wanted an easy, laid back job for a while since there wasn’t a lot of need for my main profession at the moment. So what does he do? Nighttime baby-sitter for his little brat which had very little time off. One of the few times I did have a night off, the little turd figured out how to use . Why didn’t you tell us he was starting to form ? Because that was news to me! The kid had a natural desire to get stronger as without fail every night when he thought he was alone he would train something. Originally it resulted in absurd levels of growth, but with him alternating between , his , , and his each was growing at a less alarming pace. It also meant he was not likely to accidentally kill himself which was a worry there for a bit.

Of course my easy nights of just watching a baby develop its changed once the punk could walk. The first three nights I was extra vigilant, making sure he didn’t escape the room. It was odd, as each night he strictly used and his . Nothing else. On night four the little problem child launched his plan into motion. Nil performed another scan of his room and the immediate area. We were the only two on the floor, and there was no way he would be able to detect me. Once he was satisfied that no one was nearby, he to the door so fast and smooth I barely noticed. He is getting pretty good at his . Another and he was off using his odd alternating crawl walk. Whenever something made noise, he would instantly to a pillar which was something I noticed Helga did when she was near him in case there was a clumsy attacker after the Crown Prince’s life. I knew there was something going on in that head; he was a natural born schemer. Nil would launch the occasional to make sure the area was clear. Nil explored a good chunk around the floor. His baby frame and body definitely did slow him down, but it was funny to mess with him. I would throw a stone off in the distance, and he would instantly and then proceed to use in response. I conjured a few breezes in the halls to see how he would react. Sadly, there was no visible reaction. How would he react to a stranger? That might be fun to test. And with that thought, I descended upon my scheming baby nephew.