Rain Harlow
patreon
(Vol 5) Chapter 54: Conclusions of Integration
🕑 Added 2024-06-28 15:02:54 +0000 UTCSammy nodded thoughtfully to the admittance of Zadkiel to no new Chimeric admixture of Naugites. Oh, those politics and belief systems. “So, have you fucked up the ecosystem of the Land of Naug yet with invasive new species?”
Zadkiel frowned at her words, somewhat confused. “I think I understand what you mean. No? But the flyers and a line of rats got free in the early days and we could never stamp them out, so it is what it is. Those giant fucking rats are everywhere!
“In the south, they call them murder rats. In the north, we prefer ‘houserats.’ Because they’re as big as a house, get it?! Which is an exaggeration, of course. Anyhow, the imps almost proliferated around the time before I began ensuring sterility, but we managed to kill them off. They would’ve been a much worse threat than rats.”
Sammy scoffed. “Murder rats? So you did royally fuck up. And what a terrible father you are, wiping out your own children.”
“I can’t argue.” He shrugged and took a big swig of his ale. “The possessed beings are mostly under control, varying with the line, but the mortal hybrids do whatever they want, as bestial as their counterparts, if not more so.”
“And they can survive easily in Chimera? You transport them very easily, obviously.”
“Yes, the possessed products of Chimera are transported with minimal costs. They’re exceptionally expendable, as the wraiths just dematerialize back to their home realm when their body is killed. So I have an army on call wherever I have the Gates arranged. I made dozens in the territories I took.”
“Did you try human corpses, then?”
He smirked. “Of course I did. They turn out like bigger, dumber Naugites. Much like Beastmen, but the wraith-possessed are way more controllable.”
“That’s probably what they are. I may have heard something theoretical that Naugites were born of transformed hybrids themselves, with humans just one ingredient.”
“Really? I’d be interested in seeing or hearing more about that, if possible. I wasn’t aware this was known to anyone.”
Considering it's Azure, I dunno if you will. “I’ll check into it.” She paused, glancing over at the lake at Azure’s slow circling. “Let’s move onto the subject of Glae. But before you share anything, I should drop some news on this front myself…”
Briefly, Sammy shared what had happened with her encounter with Glae, as well as her prior entrenchment within Traesh for the background. She included some of what Glae had said about Zadkiel, though she left out the bit about ‘controlling him through Redberry.’ Zadkiel might shrug it off, but she didn’t want to give him more encouragement to push on that front.
Zadkiel was nodding and sniffing in understanding at the first bits, but when Sammy related his attitude about Zadkiel, the Demon King got increasingly aggravated. When she was done, he growled and slammed his fist down so hard into the table it split into two and would’ve collapsed if Sammy hadn’t seized it through her realm control.
“That ungrateful piece of shit!” Zadkiel bellowed with his face a rictus of anger. “I do all his dirty work year after year and this is the thanks I get?! Some mentor, abandoning me at the drop of a sword! Scum, he’s fucking scum!”
Sammy repaired the table and reinforced it to boot in case he had another outburst. “Well, I won’t disagree, he’s problematic enough to make you look like a saint in comparison. I’m sure he’ll attempt to stab me in the back the instant it suits him.”
“You’re damned right he will! And to think, all his talk about honor and fairness. Phlaug! So he wants me to go die to the Dominion for real to waste some more of their resources, huh? Going to look like a right idiot when we start kicking their ass!”
“Exactly! That’s the spirit, Zaddy!”
He nodded with fierce determination in his eyes, then looked away, lost in thought, his face still a grimace. “A shame about Klymene. She was a good woman. Fierce, loyal, beautiful. I envied him. I don’t know that he understood what he had. Perhaps he does now. It isn’t good for him, that’s for sure. He was already a hard turd. This will petrify him.”
“A petrified turd? Amazingly accurate. But, um, do you have any insights on what he’ll do from here? He was hinting at something.”
Zadkiel glanced at her and took a deep breath as he considered and perhaps calmed himself down. “He talked about a contingency in case the Sleeper awoke. The True Sage. There’s no way he expected it this quickly, but he’s got something in the works, or ready to go when the time comes. If there’s one thing you can trust about him, it’s that he wants to smash the Seven Sages and the Dominion. That’s been his goal for untold decades. Maybe even centuries? I’m not sure.”
“Why?”
“His origin, his family. The gods of the giants. Vengeance for them. And conquest in general. He feels a new empire is his birthright or something like that.”
“Hmm. A contingency, huh? Can he really do anything to the Sage? It seems like everyone who thought that over thousands of years got a rude lesson on futility.”
Zadkiel snorted. “We’re daring to believe too, aren’t we? What’s the difference?”
Sammy frowned, unsure how much she should tell him on that front. Ultimately she decided nothing, for the time being. “You have a point, don’t you? I guess we’ll just hope for something cool.”
“Something ‘cool.’ Ha. Sure. You and your odd words with vague translations. I can’t place your origin at all.”
“I am not from this world.”
“A transplant, then? Amazing. I should’ve known!”
“Mm, well, it’s… complicated. Perhaps I’ll explain one day, but not today.”
“Fair enough, Goddess. I think it’s time I asked for those audiences so I can begin to salvage what I can of my realm. Ba Ra is the first so she can deliver information on what’s occurred since you’ve had me locked up.”
“It would’ve gone faster if you weren’t being a lecher.”
“I am what I am.”
“Tch. Alright, Popeye, let me make a suitable place that is more quarantined than this…”
Closing her eyes and casting her perceptions out over the waters, she created an island completely isolated from the mainland, effectively in a sub-realm with a ‘soft’ border. One could enter it from outside or from Heaven, but exiting required her hardline approval out if connecting to Heaven.
Once the basic frame was carved out, she transported Zadkiel and herself to the beach. From there, she conjured a very nice, large beach house on stilts, leading right into the ocean. She included a small sailing boat at anchor on a dock.
“A much more palatable prison,” Zadkiel commented with mock cheer. As he turned to look out on the ocean, his clothing suddenly became just a belted skirt of sorts, of bronze thread. And nothing else. Presumably, it was swimwear. “Can you ensure the waters have a reef and exotic wildlife? And give me a spear and nets? I enjoy hunting and eating weird creatures.”
“Sure…” Sammy filled the underwater surfaces out, drawing from her memories of Earth and whatever else bubbled up from the subconscious. She added a few ‘dangerous’ things of enhanced toughness just for Zadkiel, figuring he’d love a surprise or two to wrestle with, though they’d be no true threat. As another prank, she made a poisonous creature that would cause loopiness even in a god. She made it a bright, rainbow-colored small octopus.
“We’ll call this island Purgatory,” Sammy said as she continued filling out details.
Zadkiel huffed out air in amusement. “Cute.” He was looking between her and the surface of the ocean, nodding as she worked, though there was no way for him to see. “Also, ah, could you create a more respectable location up on some mountains or something? Appearance counts, even in exile.”
“Does it really matter for this Ra Ra character?”
“Ba Ra. Ba-Rasine, remember? But no, not her. You can bring her right here to the beach.”
“I’ll do a manor on some mountains or something later, then. Alright, everything should be ready. I’ll make contact and extend the invitation. Here goes…”
Getting the cues needed from Jeeves, Sammy reached out to Zadkiel’s realm through the already-prepped vector, and sent, “Ba-Rasine. I am the goddess you know as Greenleaf and Puck. We need to speak about Zadkiel.”
Immediately, there was the rush of a presence to her mind, anxiety thinly veiled behind proper etiquette. There was a feeling of darkness and brightness to her, somehow. “Greenleaf. You know what has befallen our Master? The limbo has been maddening and frightful. We know nothing but that he still existed in a great struggle, but so recently we had hope when we felt a bargain was made. Please… tell us what you know.”
“I am the one he made the bargain with, to align his aspirations more with mine. I can assure you he will return, but it will not be immediately. His rescue had a cost, essentially.”
Relief flooded through the new connection, with a sharper note of curiosity. “Align aspirations? He defers to you.” There was a brief, shocked pause as the realization came to her. “Are you our Mistress, now?”
“What?! No! I mean, er… it’s complicated. I am his superior. But it’s complicated!”
“Of course, Mistress. Please instruct me how to proceed.”
With exasperated energy, Sammy replied, “Don’t call me that! Your Majesty and Madam are fine. Anyway, I’m extending an invitation to you for the sub-realm Purgatory where I’m keeping Zadkiel, so you can meet him. It’s the best we can do for contact right now. Is this agreeable?”
More relief flooded into Sammy, along with bubbly joy, which translated like a too-familiar embrace. “Yes! I look forward to seeing him hale and whole, as well as meeting his savior and new Mistress! I hope that we will do many wonderful things together!”
“I’m not his mistress, Ba-Rasine! Uh, well, technically, maybe… but the word choice… stop it!”
“As you wish, Your Majesty.” She otherwise exuded receptive readiness. “And please call me Ba Ra!”
Muttering to herself and glaring at the nearby Zadkiel — who was walking through the surf and oblivious — Sammy authorized Ba Ra for Purgatory entry and created a route for her to enter.
In a flash, a tall feminine figure appeared, of a form not quite anything she’d ever seen, but vaguely demonic. Her skin was a shiny metallic orange with darker stripes, her hair a large mane of white though she had it in an updo. Her ears were large and pointed but came out sharply to the side and horns curled up and back from her forehead. She wore a tight, purple dress that showed a lot of skin, and ornate bronze-rimmed glasses framed cat-like oval blue-green eyes. She had a tail in a similar pattern to her skin peeking from the back.
Ba Ra screamed in joy as soon as she caught sight of Zadkiel and ran to him — he just turned in time to get glomped as she jumped into his arms. Laughing, the giant devil took her up and spun her around as she hugged him.
“You’re alive, Master!” Ba Ra exclaimed gleefully.
“I really am, Ba Ra!” Zadkiel agreed. “I really am.”
Ba Ra was grinning as she faced him. Then she gave him a passionate kiss, her tail wrapping around his leg.
Oh, Brother! Sammy turned away, shaking her head and crossing her arms. So inappropriate with a Servitor. I guess it was too much to expect he’d see them as his children like the otherworld demons. Pft. Why does he even need a wife at this point?!
When she looked back, they were still kissing, and getting heated, so Sammy cleared her throat quite loudly. “Ahem! Ahem?!”
With some reluctance, they broke, and Zadkiel set the woman down to kiss the top of her head and grin over at Sammy. They were both grinning, actually. Shamelessly. Something else was in Zadkiel's expression, but she couldn't place what, because it wasn't embarrassment. “Sorry,” Zadkiel said without much remorse detectable. “Thank you for bringing her, Goddess. I feel restored already!”
____________________________________________________________
« (Vol 5) Chapter 53 | Table of Contents | (Vol 5) Chapter 55: Fleeting Beauty. »
____________________________________________________________
