The Prince of Demons

Breakfast continued without much else happening as my family seemed much more relaxed today except for Papa. Hopefully a quick conversation with Kron and I can figure out where Krahinn is. I was hoping he just lost track of time somewhere or was occupied with something involving being a King. After breakfast, we all got into the carriages, riding our way to Temple. I was looking forward to going to the Festival of Renewals with Luna afterwards as I was struggling to remain still in my seat. Hopefully I can get her something nice while we're out. We rode in relative silence until we reached Temple where we all got out, went inside, and waited for service to begin. I made sure to pay extra attention to service, looking as alert as I could. Soon enough, I brought my offering to the statues before kneeling and praying.

Kron, I could use some insight. I prayed to their statue, hoping they would answer.

A familiar slipping sensation wrapped around me as I felt myself be pulled into the void where I talked to them. I saw the familiar gray void surrounding me until I saw not Kron standing there. Kron was an androgynous form with no features to speak of, but standing in front of me was clearly a feminine form. The presence was off for Utol, which left Nyx and Andel. Why would either of them want to talk to me? Why would they intercept me talking with Kron? Or were they waiting for me? Was there a way I could narrow down which one I was talking to before talking as not to offend them?

"I mean, you can try, but I am starting already offended by you." The Lord snarled at me, with this odd venom in her voice.

"I apologize, but what did I do to offend you? Which Lord am I speaking to?" I inquired as I wanted to avoid angering her more than I already did.

"Impossible to anger me more, so speak freely as I am already at my limit." The Lord spat, sounding angered by my presence which was odd because they brought me here.

"Who are you? What could I have done to irritate you this much?" I checked, having a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"It should be obvious as Andel is basically impossible to offend you forling dilwaul." Nyx taunted. Great, the backer of the Void King.

"So, why are you speaking to me?" I inquired, not grasping why Nyx decided to personally insult me.

"Oh, that is simple because I want you to know who to thank here in a bit. You also were praying for insight as to where Krahinn was and I know the answer." Nyx explained while moving in an overly dramatic fashion. Each word leaving her mouth was making the dread I was feeling worse and worse.

"What happened to Krahinn? Where is he?" I probed. What did she have in mind? I want you to know who to thank here in a bit. Those words were haunting coming from a Lord that despised me.

"He was simply put away temporarily as he would have ruined the surprise. Do not worry, he will return safe and sound in about two hours from now." Nyx assured me. So, there was less than two hours before whatever gift she had for me.

"What do you mean by put away?" I probed as I feared her answer.

"I only sealed him away to make sure he absolutely would not be able to interfere with my little present." Nyx clarified in a mocking tone. Great. Just great.

"Do you want to tell me the gift?" I tried, seeing if Nyx would answer.

"Oh, do not worry you little shiza, I will get there in due time. I have other grievances." Nyx snapped at me.

"What are your grievances?" I asked trying hard not to sigh.

"You! You have ruined my entertainment for far too long!" Nyx roared while jabbing her finger accusingly at me.

"How did I do that?" I inquired. What could I have done to ruin the entertainment of a Lord?

"Look, look, you worthless bezka, I did not bring you into our Realms for you to subject me to the same show over and over again with little differences between each new season! It was the worst thing I have ever seen as it is so forling boring!" Nyx roared at me as she got in my face.

"Wait, you can remember my different attempts of resetting time? And what do you mean by 'bring you into our Realms' there?" I checked, wondering what she possibly meant by that. My brain told me it could not be good.

"Obviously, I'm a Lord you dilwaul! How could I not know?! I am powerful while you are little more than an obnoxious slug! We all know each attempt after the key point; no matter how hard we try to stay neutral, it is boring as forl seeing similar events unfold over and over again! Of course you could only change after a certain point so we have to rewatch after that time each new season! It's MISERABLE!" Nyx screamed at me. Something about her phrasing clicked.

"Season? Like a show? And you never clarified the 'bring you into our Realms' line you stated." I pointed out to Nyx as she was continuing to lose it on me.

"I WILL EXPLAIN WHAT I WANT WHEN I WANT! YOU ARE AN INSUFFERABLE EXCUSE OF A BEING I REGRET EVER GIVING A SECOND LIFE! SO SHUT THE FORL UP AND LET ME VENT YOU BUKNARL!" Nyx yelled at me. Seeing the emotional outburst of a Lord was not on my things I thought I'd do today.

"Go ahead." I directed her, hoping to be out of here as soon as possible.

That was not the correct thing to say as Nyx retaliated by what felt like inverting my body, turning it inside out. The agony of your body insides suddenly being rotated outside was indescribable. In an instant, my body was correct again as the pain lingered because Nyx healed me instantly. Nyx's blank face was glaring through my soul as she stood there with the simmering wrath oozing out of every pore of hers. I was not keen on finding out the torture a Lord could inflict as it occurred to me that while she likely couldn't kill me, that didn't mean she couldn't traumatize me before returning me technically unharmed. Does emotional or psychological trauma count toward the <Veil>? Something told me Nyx would go right up to the line of what she could get away with before returning me if I provoked her.

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"Good thinking." Nyx taunted. I was dreading the continuation of her current outburst.

Unfortunately, Nyx could read my mind at will. Calling her current temper tan- I mean emotional venting an outburst awarded me learning what it felt like when you were flattened to a pancake before my body was healed back to normal. It was refreshing to see how rational Nyx was going to be during my stay in her presence. I knew for a fact nothing I said was getting me free a second sooner than Nyx wanted, or until her time was out. Just great. What did she do? Nyx was about to let me know one way or another what her problems were. It was awful being near beings that made their displeasure everyone else's problem when they were this powerful. Part of me was a bit curious as to what all she wanted to explain or vent at me, but regardless I knew whenever I was free that I would have mere moments before I got to see what a present from a Lord that hated you looked like.

"Relax Nil, it is a gift solely of your own creation." Nyx assured me with the fakest sincerity in her voice.

"I am quite sure I have made whatever gift you got me." I replied in the most neutral tone I could.

"It would be no fun if I made it entirely on my own, as well as the other Lords would not take kindly to if I did much more than I did. I am already pushing what interference I am allowed to do." Nyx explained with an impressive level of venom in her voice. She and the Void King are quite similar in that regard.

"Why thank you!" Nyx told me happily.

"That was not a compliment. I also am so grateful for your gift." I informed her, bracing for her retaliation.

"Relax Nil, I am not going to torture you over every little detail. You have no reason to understand just how grateful you should be." Nyx snapped at me.

"Is this tying back to the 'bring you into our Realms' line?" I checked. Nyx let out a long, exasperated sigh.

"You are so fixated on things entirely in my control. Lucky for you, it is why you should be grateful towards me, so I will explain. I was so bored with our Realms as no one ever tells you just how boring eternity is. As I was wandering around the grand expanse of everything, I discovered that I could find these souls that I could bring to our Realms which did unfortunately require some troubleshooting to get to work properly." Nyx lectured at me with this condescending tone that was infuriating.

"What do you mean by troubleshooting? How were these souls entertaining?" I asked as I was trying to keep her explaining.

"Our worlds never developed what you called science among other things such as fantasy writing because we can turn thought into reality so our Realms were sorely lacking in creativity and development. These souls were quite entertaining as they had a hunger, a desperation, and a need to innovate that was so entertaining to watch as they clawed around at these second lives." Nyx answered. She was deliberately not giving me the full answer.

"What troubles did you go through to make your entertainment work?" I tried, hoping that would get a more detailed answer from Nyx.

"Finally caring about issues that matter, mine. Good Nil." Nyx praised in her same mocking tone.

"I am starting to grasp how much I should thank you." I lied, which Nyx either didn't notice or care to check was a lie. She reminded me of people I'd much rather forget.

"Maybe you are not entirely hopeless. You see, figuring out which souls I could siphon, making them survive the trip, and having them not create nightmarish messes of the <Veil> took some trial and error." Nyx explained. What happened to the failures? How did a Lord fail?

"I DID NOT FAIL! IT'S NOT MY FAULT THEY WERE WEAK!" Nyx snarled at me as my body was instantly ripped apart and reformed in a second. I grit my teeth to avoid howling in agony.

"I meant to say, how did they fail to do what you want?" I tried. Nyx seemed happy again as my words were back in her worldview.

"Because like with all <Magic>, even I cannot simply do whatever I want as there are six other beings I agreed to rules with to make sure when we do what we want it doesn't rip everything else apart." Nyx sighed in annoyance.

"That sounds awful. How unfortunate they held you back." I told her, feeling a similar void welling up inside me.

"It is so unfortunate. To elaborate how they failed, there are three conditions that must be met for my entertainment to actual work; I mean, putting aside creating a bridge between where you're from and our Realms that was stable enough to not accidentally banish the soul to oblivion. First, I need a soul with low attachment to where they started, someone miserable and hollow, like you are. Second, the soul needs to be grabbed at a point where the soul is not attached but before it tries going somewhere else." Nyx explained. Wait, did she try to bring over living people?

"Yes. By the way, when you do, they uh, kind of just fade into nothingness never to be seen again. But as they say, you have to break some eggs to make an omelet. Now, that paled over figuring out the third issue. See, I can't replace a soul with a different soul. I tried putting souls into beings that died, or came close, but Utol the killjoy made sure that ended horribly as it was some odd zombie hybrid which was an agonizing existence before the <Magic> ripped them apart. Then I tried injecting them into babies, but two souls in a new body just ends with them battling for control before killing the body. It occurred to me that I need a body that never had a soul to bring my entertainment into." Nyx continued with this sadistic glee as she kept talking. Wait, so that meant.

"Exactly! Stillborn babies are the perfect vessel!" Nyx confirmed with a massive smile painted on her form.

"What about those that failed your expectations?" I inquired. Nyx just shrugged.

"Not my problem. They were just blips in the story I was making." Nyx yawned, sounding disinterested.

"So, you brought us here to watch us? So that we could struggle for your amusement?" I verified. Then, when did the Void King come into the picture?

"I did and correct. Now, a long time ago, one of you went well off the rails and went crazy before Scius killed him. Then Scius made it his eternal mission to make sure you all suffer and struggle as much as possible before killing you, giving birth to a brand-new show for me to watch. Seeing you all writhe and tragically fail in a second life that was just as miserable as the first was something I had no idea I needed until I saw it." Nyx clarified with this manic joy overflowing from her.

"We were brought here to be hunted for sport? For your entertainment as we suffer before dying horribly at the hands of the Void King?" I asked as it felt like my ears were ringing.

"Precisely! Now, I had to make sure he could find his quarry, so I made sure to mark you all with the title I gave him, <Nyx Mage>. I couldn't mark just only Reincarnators, so I made sure to mark some beings at random, or those loyal towards my precious Scius as a reward!" Nyx added on as she did this happy little clap.