Shattered Conduit

Jaldabaoth Scurried through the wretched sewers. The repulsiveness of the rats and the stench of the feces covered sewage itched at Jaldi's ghost-skinned nose, his deep crimson eyes nervously twitched and beamed across the sewers. He knew them all too well and he knew the other creatures that dwelt within this all too wretched place he called a home.

'Sickening'

Having to call such a pathetic place home. Jaldabaoth wanted to live quietly in a cabin on a beach or in a forest or in the solitude of the mountain tops and yet here he was serving that disgusting and irritating idiot of a king, and yet Jaldi still served. Not because he wanted to by any means but because he was forced to. He wanted nothing more than to subject the horrid monarch to every punishment and brutality he had suffered but could not for he was bound.

Either way it didn't matter all Jaldi had to do was bide his time. Yes, bide time. Something he'd been doing for centuries. He felt like he was slowly going mad. The days passed by somberly and slowly, mocking him for his foolishness. He could almost weep, but he didn't there was no point in it anymore.

He arrived at his destination. 

This particular sewer line opened up to a cavern of magnificence no human had seen for years. It sprawled out for miles and seemed to go on forever but Jaldi knew full well it didn't. The width however was only a few hundred feet apart and the roof of the cavern only stood at a measly 200 feet. There were many huts and small houses dotted throughout the cavern. Both made out of wooden and metal scraps found within the sewers themselves. There were also huts made purely out of mud and stone. the people or even if they could be called people were resourceful at the very least, Jaldabaoth had to give the Laenings that much.

The lizard-humanoid like creatures were very foul in Jaldi's eyes, then again Jaldi wasn't one to speak. 

He was pale and ghost-like as far as his skin was concerned. His eyes were even more unordinary, with a burning crimson that were reminiscent of fire. Jaldi hated that feature about himself the most. He always wanted purple or blue eyes. But why would the Gods curse him with wretched red? His back arched forward in a hunchback shape and his stature stood only at five feet and three and a half inches. He kept track obsessively, always longing to become taller some day. His nose was crooked and he barely had any hair to speak of. He was almost as bald and shiny as the hood of a human transportation vehicle. 

He finally reached the Palace. Heralded and governed but Lord Xanul himself. A pure blooded Laening that Jaldabaoth was forced to serve.

The path he walked was soaked in not only the blood of enemies but friends as well. He is a former shell of himself. Broken and lost, once heralded for something greater, but no more. He is more of a ghost then he ever was a man.

He walked through the gilded palace. Xanul liked to portray to the other lords that he was flush with riches beyond imagination but his stone palace was only wrapped in Gold dust and it was reapplied every month to keep up the illusion. Surprisingly it fooled the other lords.

Jaldi hoped they would figure out the deception but many of the lords in this decrepit region weren't the sharpest daggers in the thief's repertoire. He approached the throne chamber and found Xanul already waiting for him on his gilded throne. There were female servants that they had kidnapped all around the room with a few Laening slaves dotted about the room as well... cleaning. There were two steel doors to Jaldi's right and left, the former being the Royal kitchen and the latter being the King's quarters and behind the throne was a room even Jaldi somehow knew nothing about.

The throne he sat upon was strong and sturdy. It was gold painted stone with spears and axes sprouting from the back of the throne and skulls dotted the base of the throne. the steps to the throne itself had markings and symbols drawn in the blood of previous slaves who defied the wretched monarch. A reminder and warning to any who dare defy him.

Xanul sat on his throne and was more than two meters tall easy. His head resembled that of a king cobra and his body was even more massive than his height, he was dark green. He had a sturdy yet bulky frame that was similar to that of a bodybuilder but without the use of steroids. He was as physically fit as he was gifted in the Arcane. However, currently he was nude without his usual armor adornment. He was known as The Serpent Defiler. He had no humanlike features and was pure reptilian. He hissed when he saw Jaldi come forth. He spoke in his native tongue but Jaldi understood it well enough.

"So Jaldi, did you complete your tasks?" he said while gently stroking the face of a slave.

Jaldi bowed his head low and knelt before the throne with much disdain.

"As you required my master."

He said plainly.

"Fool!"

Xanul screeched, and got up from his throne and stomped towards Jaldi infuriated.

"Do not speak to me in that disgusting tongue. The humans do not deserve our acknowledgement let alone speaking their language!"

Xanul's voice quivered throughout all of the palace so much so that stones and other debris fell from the ceiling.

He threw Jaldi to the side. Hard. Jaldi heard his back crack and knew that wasn't good; He tried to move but couldn't. Xanul noticed his servants' struggle and sighed.

"Slave!"

He shouted. Two girls dressed in rags came rushing forward.

"Carry him."

They nodded.

As they carried Jaldi towards the throne Jaldi noticed how miserable they looked. Their slight figures were covered in blood and mud and cuts. Evidence of Xanul's abuse and torture. His ire was less than savory for those afflicted by it. Jaldi could see the despair and lifelessness in their saucer shaped eyes. Their pupils begged for help but Jaldi could do no such thing.

Even if he wanted to.

"The Paralysis will pass Jaldi. I know that is not enough to kill you. Despite your feeble looks we're more similar than you think. Now again. Report. Correctly."

Jaldi began to speak in the Laeyanese tongue and Xanul was nodding in approval. He reported his sightings of a relatively new school built atop their mountain. Jaldi also suggested sending more scouting parties since it had been some years since the last one.

"No."

Jaldi however knew why but pushed it no further. He knew they could not be spotted. For now Xanul seemed to be satisfied but Jaldi didn't trust a single word that monster uttered even with that similar comment he said earlier. It would never be true, Jaldabaoth and Xanul were not the same in any way shape or form. Jaldi had to believe it.

"Throw him down the steps we're done here, you and you,"

He said while pointing at two slaves.

"Come with me."

One of the Slaves simply sneered but that was more than enough cause.

Xanul grabbed them by the leg and smashed them against the ground over and over again until their corpse or what was left of it was simply a pool of blood and internal viscera.

"Anyone else?"

He said flatly.

The rest of the slaves shook their heads. He grabbed the arm of the other slave and walked somberly towards his bedchambers.

As they had been commanded the slave Laenings who were dragging Jaldi by his arms threw him down the steps of the Gilded Palace and as he fell down the last step he regained his body back. He was paralyzed no more. His curse had unfortunately remained. Either way he brushed himself off and looked for a tavern to drink at. The assassin of lord Xanul himself got free drinks of course! If they denied him they could always talk to Xanul himself. but if a tavern owner ever did call his bluff and complain Jaldi would be in more than a heap of trouble. However the bluff worked more often than not. so he did as he pleased.