35 – Retribution

Ishrin walked a good distance away from the caravan, letting the small lights of the magic fields of his companions fade in the distance until he could barely see them anymore. He had dined and chatted with the merchants, but now they were all preparing for the night, each of them at their own assigned wagons so that they could keep watch over the goods. Melina and Lisette had set up the usual small tent they used every time they had to sleep outside, taken from Ishrin’s inventory and he had also taken out enough supplies for them to have some tea and snacks during the night while they kept watch over the caravan.

When he was far enough away that he was sure nobody was going to see what he was doing, Ishrin finally stopped. There were enough trees to hide him although he was not in a forest: a shaded square of trees between the fields, and inside this little grove he found a clearing with ground flat enough that he could draw. The ritual was usually quick, designed to be used even during battle, but he took care to draw it well: it was the same he had used to visit Noctis in front of the girls when they asked him if he could teleport, but since it was night and he needed to be stealthy he wanted to make sure that his teleportation was not going to produce sparks or discharges of energy that could give away his location. He had become much more adept at it than he was the first time he used it in this world, with his limited supply of mana and mental power to keep the energies at bay. The reason was that in the last few days he had used it at least five different times to come back to Noctis and visit Dwymer to get his Runesmithing lessons, and to impart his own lessons about enchanting rituals.

But that was not all: he even managed to incorporate Runes into a couple of his rituals, one of which was the teleportation itself.

Ishrin closed his eyes. Despite everything, this ritual was very weak and limited in what it could do. He could use it to transport only himself and he could only travel to places he had already physically visited, with a cast time and energy cost that increased with distance following a cubic formula he knew well. With the runes he could make it a bit cheaper, but he still didn’t have enough mastery over them to impact the ritual much.

The jump was going to cost him almost all of his mana, but it wasn’t an issue. He had already done his preparations, casting another ritual beforehand.

Before his closed eyes appeared a map of the world. All was dark, clouded in smoke and hidden, and he was but a small glowing cyan dot on the surface of this immense unknown sphere. He zoomed in with his mind, and now he could see that around him some areas were populated with little drawings of trees, and fields, and houses and hills. They were like the illustrations of a little book for children, going from the circle of walls that was Noctis with its houses and towers surrounded by fields, to small lines of known land that expanded from there, tendrils reaching out into the unknown. One of them connected the city to the forest close by, and then wound and sometimes expanded into a small square where the trees were known, and the landmarks marked. It was like a map, and there he spotted the circle of statues where he opened the rift to the mountain realm.

He panned out, trying not to think about what happened in the mountain realm. Of the other two offshoots of revealed map, one went in the direction of the Labirinthine Dungeon, the other went all the way to Obscuria, before taking a sharp turn and connecting with where he left his team to guard the Taiival and his caravan and eventually coming to a dead end in the grove he was in. He focused on Obscuria, trying to picture the Red Manor, and inside it a small remote corner where nobody would come looking, this late at night.

Suddenly he was there.

***

Lucius walked slowly towards the brass basin, filled to the brim with steaming water and scented soap. The faucet was leaking copious amounts of scalding water that overflowed from the basin and gathered itself in a depression of the marble floor, where it then disappeared into a hidden hole in the wall. He looked at himself, at his reflection in the great mirror and let the robes slide off of him. The fabric folded itself on the ground messily, to be picked up and cleaned later by one of the human-servants who always followed him around. It was still stained with blood from the morning sacrifice, clotted and dry, and with colorful shimmering dust that painted his sleeves yellow and ochre.

He dipped one clawed foot into the hot water and let out a sigh. Then the other, and eventually lowered his whole body inside the brass basin, letting the water splash around as his body sank to the bottom.

As he relaxed, his thoughts went over what happened during the day. He had sent off the latest batch of spices and special produces towards Semiluminal with only a one-day delay, a delay he was more than happy to have caused because it allowed him to set his eyes on a much greater prize than some measly gold pieces obtained by selling his wares. The adventurers. When he put out the notice, he never expected someone at Tier 13 to come knocking at his door, and yet… they had come, and he gave them the special welcome to make them feel at ease with him, to appear weak before them and to make them underestimate him. Just as he liked.

They will come back, he knew. Taiival was going to make sure of that, by mentioning that whatever it was that they were looking for, they could find it here, in Obscuria, right in the Red Mansion and right in Lucius’ hands. And he will give it to them, in exchange for their souls and bodies, and let them live the remainder of their short lives intoxicated and inebriated with drugs and spices until their minds were empty and their bodies wasted away, ready for him to rebuild and exploit. Lucius nodded to himself. It was going to take time, but he was not taking any risks of course, he was only handing out quests and little by little earn their trust. Nothing much at all.

Another thought. The treasurer of the city had come to grovel at his feet today, Lucius’ mind thought lazily, after several minutes spent soaking in the warm water. He was asking for lenience after Lucius had discovered that he was stealing from him, and he had laughed in his face. The poor man thought he had been summoned because of that tiny misdeed but no, Lucius knew about the prostitutes the treasurer was smuggling out of the city and that, that was the great crime. See, his prostitutes were little gems, polished to perfection, ready to be purchased for a great price and used however the client desired. The treasurer was stealing them and selling them off for cheap. Heads needed to roll.

Lucius had really enjoyed squeezing the life out of the little, knotty man. Seeing him beg as his eyes grew red and swollen, until finally he stopped moving and almost died. But he didn’t let him die, no. He brought him to a tiny dark room full of needles and ampules of various liquids, and began to inject him with his special formula. In a few days he would be ready for harvest, Lucius thought, mind blank and soft.

Lucius made a mental note to administer the evening dose to the treasurer, then looked up at the ceiling and growled, raising one hand out of the water and snapping thrice. Three servants rushed into the room. One carried away his discarded robes, bringing new folded clothes for him to wear. The other two brought one food, the other beverages and fruit of any kinds. He pointed at the grapes, and the young caramel skinned servant began to pick at them and to feed them to the large muscular lizard. Lucius, naked, munched loudly at the juicy spheres, his eyes wandering around the servants’ enticing and skinny bodies as they worked and moved with almost sensual movements, as if ordered to put on a show rather than just serve him. He imagined what would be like to munch at them much like he did the grapes, and the flame of desire blazed.

Lucius was the most feared man in the city, in a city that itself was feared even by powerful people, and he reveled in the sensation. He let the scared looks and the terrified eyes of his manservants arouse him every time he gazed predatorily at them, the pleasure of power washing over his body and lingering, accumulating in an orgasmic tension waiting to be released. Perhaps he was going to kill more creatures tonight, or maybe he could use one of these servants to relieve his needs.

It didn’t matter which one. In fact, he could very well do both.

Lucius got out of his bath and let one of the servants dress him. This one, he thought, he fancied the most. Suddenly however, as he was about to grope at him and pull him close, Lucius found himself alone in the room. A wind seemed to have picked up that was cold on his bare scales. He pulled the fabric of his vest shut, to shield himself from the rush of air and watched around with rapid movement hindered by the cold temperature as the lights dimmed, the torches flickered and died. The windows were wide open, letting the wet air full of rain in, and the sudden crack of lightning revealed a silhouette standing against the dark sky. Thunder rolled, and the silhouette was gone. Darkness.

Lucius reached for his hidden weapon.

“Show yourself.” He spat.

He turned around with snappy, fast movements. But didn’t feel like a predator for once, he was a prey.

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“Come on,” he continued, masking the tremor in his voice. “Where are you? Are you scared?”

His senses were blind. Not even his Taker eyes, capable of seeing everything that was alive, could cut through the darkness. Only the occasional flash of lightning lit the room, but it was empty.

Then something moved. Lucius tried to turn around while swiping with his blade but hit nothing but air. A cold sensation spread through his body and he turned around again to this time see the shadow of a person standing in the middle of the room, close to the still running water that was now cold and oozed like oil. Lucius tried to rush at it with his blade but found that he couldn’t, his movements slow and dull. He looked down.

Now the shadow was standing right in his face, with an arm outstretched and the fingers of his open palms pierced his skin at the height of his chest, right where the cold was spreading from. Lightning revealed that a strange liquid like grey slime was spreading from where the hand touched him, spreading like oil, covering his body in gelid cold that felt distant, and unreachable.

“Why the fuck did you mention chess like you were saying something profound?” A voice came from the shadow, and it felt familiar. “You only looked like a jerk; you know? Now, just die or something.”

Lucius snarled but found that his lungs didn’t hold any air and his voice was suffocated and weak. Of all the curses he wanted to yell, only a faint groan escaped his fanged grey lips. Then the cold took him. Darkness.

Light.

He awoke?

He could see. There was light around, and he was… standing. Moving! He saw the world but the colors were faint and the voices distant. He tried to move, but the body didn’t move according to his commands. He tried to wake up, as if this was a nightmare, but failed.

He could only watch with utter impotence, witness events like they were memories from a life that wasn’t his own.

***

Ishrin pulled out his hand from Lucius’ chest. “That was surprisingly easy,” he muttered.

Ritual Successful: Teneshap’s Touch. Individual Lucius Rexis is now under your control.

“Rexis.” Ishrin said. “Why? You’re not a dinosaur.”

Lucius stared with a dead expression, his body tense and tight like it was made of stone.

Ishrin waved him off. “Okay. No need to say anything. Show me what you were doing here.”

Lucius began to walk, with jerky and stiff movements at first, but as time passed his steps became more natural and his muscles relaxed. His face was still the stone mask of nothing, of not having an expression, the unreadable default Ishrin assumed was a lizard’s true face but it didn’t matter. Lucius showed him the rooms, and Ishrin sighed long and hard before having his new slave close the doors behind them.

“Destroy this shit. I don’t want anything to be left behind. Burn the books and the scrolls, sanitize everything, kill everyone who was involved in this then set the Mansion on fire. You hear me?”

Lucius nodded stiffly.

“Good. But before that: follow me.”

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