Black Heart

"Black Heart" is an extended universe thread.
== Summary ==
== Full Text ==
The Warden: The day passed and turned to deep night before long, the half-moon shining peacefully over the shimmering waters and sands surrounding the demon home of Nagathal. Nala kept a watchful eye near the top of the structure, standing still with her eyes closed while her mind roamed the world around her, searching for her daughter Bia’donn. She had not yet returned from her journey to one of the nearby human villages; perhaps she had to travel further than she had originally planned. The Empress was somewhere within spending more time with her grandchildren. Nala’s worry rose slightly with each minute that passed, like a puddle slowly being filled by a light rain.
After a while, the tension became too much and the Warden retreated inward, returning to the room where the Witch and the Scribe were listening attentively to their grandmother telling stories of the old world. Perhaps something has happened…maybe, if I were to set out with Shi’pai–
A sudden, violent disturbance at the doorway made her snap to attention, freezing in place. A swarm of frantic cobalt energy was blazing at the entryway. Mother, Mother, Mother! It’s him!! Down south, we must stop him!
Bia’donn, slow down, are you sure!? She broadcast her words to every family member within range and they looked around wildly, attention sharpening. This is not the first time that you’ve been overly cautious–
I know!! Bia’donn stomped nervously back and forth in front of the doorway, a genuine fear darkening her essence. He is on his way to Last Respite and I had to hide my essence and run all the way here and it was really close and whoa what, who else is here? That’s a big mind. What are you guys even up to? Ack, no time, we gotta go before he hurts anyone I don’t want another Tir’ai Village!! C’mon!
Nor do I. It will not happen again. Nala sprinted to the heart of Nagathal and reached her mother and the Witch and Scribe, who stood immediately. Ganmonah was practically jittering with tension. 
What do you need, Mother? he said immediately. 
We have no time, we must go with only our astral defenses. Phijo, go and find Shi’pai, you are both coming with us. Mother, will you come? We may need you.
The Empress: “Of course, what is it, what is going on?” H’zola stood to attention, with the too familiar coldness to her voice. She tentatively reached out with her mind to attenuate herself to what was happening. Their was a lingering fear permeating the room, flashes of the Praetor came to the forefront of her mind. 
The Warden: The Witch yawned and stretched her arms over her head before taking flight and disappearing into the hallways. We are demon hunting, Nala said with the mental implication of a grim smile. Some of this realm have taken to wanton destruction, and while we do not attempt to guard the entire continent…we do try to keep things under control now and again. Our current target in particular has an extreme vendetta against demons he deems traitors to their kind. We have dealt with him on more than one occasion.
 The heavy footfalls of the Caesar preceded his arrival and he loped through the doorway, bending low to the ground for his shorter relatives and snorting, stamping his feet in place, ears twitching. Come, Mother! Come, Zol! We must catch the Laird!
It should not take long to get there. Nalaagura lifted herself up onto his back. And it should not take long to deal with, especially with the Empress on our side. Her voice was flushed with heady excitement and pride, and she was itching with unrest, eager to leave. 
The Empress: H’zola grabbed onto Nalaagura’s extended hand and saddled onto Caesar as well, her small mortal frame fitting in front of her daughter snugly. “You are quite the huntress, my dear. I can only hope in my exile I haven’t lost my taste for the arts.” H’zola gave a spry wink back to her daughter. 
“I suppose what I am trying to say is,” she stifled a chuckle, adding a small pause. “Is try to keep up.” 
The Warden: The Caesar shook himself and set off trundling through the caves, feet pounding the ground and throwing up faint trails of dust as they left. Phijo flew behind and above them and they reached the outside in no time. The barrier shuddered and disappeared momentarily as the massive demon flew through it. Outside, another large figure was trampling the ground anxiously, a four-legged beast with thick legs, a long barbed tail and a dark-skinned human top half with curved horns, somewhat of an odd centaur figure. She held a darkly shining spear by her side, flourishing it as she turned to see the rest of her family arrive. Good, let’s go, we’re wasting time! she said in a rush, galloping alongside her brother as they began racing for Last Respite. The ground flashed under them as though they were flying, silver droplets of water cascading around their feet as they barreled through streams.
So, Mother, I’m going to make a wild guess and say that mortal isn’t a mortal, Bia’donn said brusquely, glancing over at the small figure in front of Nala. Hey, it’s good to meet you! What’s your name? You must be pretty old.
Bia’donn!
The Empress: H’zola gave another hearty laugh, she hadn’t had this much excitement in ages. “Your assumptions are quite correct, young one. You may call me Zol.” She reached back and gave Nalaagura’s arm a small playful squeeze. Her soul flourished as she waited in anticipation for their quarry, irises pulsing a deep violet.
The Warden: That’s good enough for me! Bia’donn laughed with the woman, flipping her spear and switching hands, pointing it down by her side. Let’s hunt some thieving demons!
The distance closed breathtakingly fast; Phijo was faster than any of them and flew further ahead, circling above the large village, scouting the area. The city was built into a descending canyon that eventually widened and led to Hel’s Pass, the gateway to the Demon Lands. The surrounding land was incredibly fertile, and the canyon walls that the houses were built into made for good defense against bandits and raiders. But there was little the mortals could do to guard against a demon. Fierce firelight flickered against the rough, dark stone, much more than should have been produced by torches. 
“Yo̴u̧ ̡guýs wȩr͡e tơo͏ s͠lơw!” the Witch laughed distantly, hovering hundreds of feet above the rooftops, green flame spreading across her hands. “He̸'͟s͢ h́e͠ŕe! ̧Ánd ̛he b͞r͢o̶ug̵h̕t͞ some ̧fr̨ie҉nds!”
There was a muffled explosion and a cloud of dust and smoke filled the canyon as one of the houses imploded. Nala got to her feet, crouching to balance on the Caesar’s rocking back. Shi’pai, roll through the village, tell us where every one of those devils are.
I will find all of them! Nala held on tight to H’zola and leaped off his haunches, rolling and protecting the small mortal body as the Caesar tucked his head and tail in, kicked up his legs and began rolling even faster than his usual gate, taking the main road through the town. The flames had only just begun to spread and occasionally, silhouetted against the firelight, a streak of dark essence could be seen shooting through the sparks. Several alarm bells were ringing through the town and the people were escaping their homes, clutching the hands of their children and brandishing swords, looking frantically about for the enemy.
The Empress: “I assume the derelict demon is the source of the energy radiating from that city.” H’zola crawled out of Nalaagura’s embrace, dusting off the colorful robes she had. She reached inside her satchel muttering to herself. “C’mon, it should be in here… somewhere…” Finally she produced a spiraled jet black wand, that wound into a simplistic handle. “Well then, my dear, shall we?” She gestured to her daughter to lead the way further into the fray. 
The Warden: We shall, she murmured, eyes shining with the light of the fire. She began striding purposefully into the fringes of the town, waving her hand in an arc over her head and creating a scarlet barrier, shielding the fleeing residents from the fight. In the distance, a cloud of sparks and flame billowed upwards and Shi’pai roared as another unearthly shriek pierced the air at the same time. Phijo dived down and caught one of the diving wraiths out of the air, grappling with its suddenly-solid form with flashes of green fire.
Where are you…
One of the larger demons skidded to the ground in front of them and coalesced into a vaguely canine form with skeletal wings, raising its haunches and snarling at the two archdemons. Nala looked back at her mother in amusement. Would you like this one?
The Empress: H’zola made a lazy movement with the wand in her left hand, a spark of cobalt blue arced out the end. Ethereal chains, the same color as the sparks, sprouted from the ground wrapping and ensnaring the demon slowly dragging its form to the ground. The cracks and crunches of whatever tissues made up the being could be heard over the screams and flames around the village. 
The elder demon ran her right hand through her hair, feigning boredom. “Please tell me there’s more to it than this.” The Empress made a few more motions with her wand causing red and yellow sparks trailed out. Timbers and trees that were caught up in the blaze shot from where they were rooted and impaled several more of the ghastly forms flitting around their heads. “They aren’t even trying to dodge.”
The Warden: Nala chuckled, spreading her hands and clenching her fists, extinguishing some of the larger fires by sucking the air away from them. Not enough excitement for you, Mother?
Phijo suddenly screamed from afar and hissed in fury, “Oh,͢ you'͡re͘ g͠on̴n̷a ́g͠e͢t̀ ͝it!” she snarled, and the canyon rocked with the sound of something being forcefully shoved into its wall. Nala tilted her face to the sound and her essence darkened. 
I will drive him to you; this should be over quickly. Her body ran forward; the flames billowed and she disappeared into the smoky haze.
The Empress: H’zola nodded her head slightly, before kneeling to the ground. Her physical form became enveloped in a hazy white smoke that began to turn into a pillar of fog. Tentacle like arms began to sprout from the pillar, flaring out with motes of vibrant colors and striking at minor demons that flew too close. 
I am ready Nalaagura, bring the whelp to me. Her voice echoed in her daughters mind, their connections re-tethered. 
The Laird: Nala did not answer; the flames crackled ominously around the Empress, the night sky looming overhead, the shrieks of lesser fiends as they scattered from her echoing off the canyon walls. 
So this is she.
A swath of darkness seemed to pour from the smoke hissing above them, and it pooled into another beastlike figure behind the Empress, but much more defined, much more solid and at least as tall as a human if not taller. He was lithe and muscular, with a strange snoutlike face with four white eyes and a scruffy mane covering his neck and shoulders and upper back. A long tufted tail swished back and forth calmly, trailing banners of shadow. A dark aura rippled around him. The noise in the immediate area became somewhat muffled. He tilted his head inquisitively, making no move towards her. His eyes glinted. The mother demon, he continued, the daughter of Hel herself. I had begun to think you were only a myth, Empress.
The Empress: Don’t fool yourself, youngling. I am very real, very tangible. Her voice emanated from all sides, the ground rattling in response. The pillar of smoke rescinded back into the small frail human frame that H’zola was residing in. White and gold trails of lightning crackled around her, a sphere 5 meters across coalesced emitting a faint glowing gold. The smoke, embers, and ash that traveled through began to slow to a crawl inside the sphere. 
Her fist tightened around her wand; it was the only sign of her preparing to fight on her otherwise calm demeanor. But I am curious about you, child. To what ends is all of this, she gestured about her, this fruitless destruction.
The Laird: This? This has no purpose but distraction and coercion, old woman. The rumbling ground shook loose half of a burning roof that hung above them. The logs and fire tumbled towards the two demons, but it stopped and scattered on an invisible barrier that hung above their heads. I needed but a few more moments to gather what I needed…even with their home set aflame, mortals continue to be so stubborn, especially this particular specimen that I require. But the Warden brought right to me a new adversary that I couldn’t resist confronting before I left.
His image warped and fluidly twisted into an amorphous black cloud, threaded with streaks of scarlet and deep cobalt blue, flickering like a lightning storm. In the same instant, Nala’s essence burst through the flames behind her mother and rammed into the barrier, thrashing against it in the same undefined collection of energy. Every time she struck the wall, it flashed black, and the same tainted colors from before raced through her. Her voice was muffled but it was clearly raised in rage. The dark demon chuckled. Why, there she is now. I knew my diversion wouldn’t keep her for long. But, we shall ignore her for now. Where have you been cowering all these years, mighty Empress?
The Empress: Oh, here, in a flash of bright light H’zola’s form appeared behind the Laird. “And there.” She spoke aloud before thrusting her wand forward. The handle of her ivory wand glowed a cyan before elongating into an ethereal long sword piercing through the demon before her.
The Laird: His essence split around her blade and rushed away to the edges of the invisible bubble he’d created, and it rushed to the very top and then slammed into the ground, the hazy black energy rolling into a much larger form with curved horns, wings along his arms and a glowing scarlet maw. He laughed richly. Now, this is what I came for! The Warden dragged her claws fiercely across the barrier, making progress into breaking it but still too far away to help. Her famed riddles, and her immense power. And still the stories overestimate you! he jeered, prowling slowly, waiting for her next move. Does not your rage burn still for the deities that murdered your children? You are but a dying flame without it.
The Empress: “Rage is tiresome, as are you.” The same white and gold light shimmered around the Laird’s peripherals. Her wand began to elongate, sprouting an ornate blade at the end, spirals and patterns decoratively lining the interior. She held the glaive behind her, parallel to the ground in a defensive stance. Her left hand was splayed out to her side, in the crooked shape of a claw. “I’ve learned all I needed to learn from the deities and the children they had taken from me.”
Her splayed out hand twitched and turned into a fist, an eyeless Stitcher crawled from the ground underneath it. The soil and grass tumbled off of its plated body. “Learned their greatest strengths and made them my own.”
The Laird: The Laird bared his teeth in a grinning snarl, trails of astral, sparking liquid dripping from the corners of his mouth, eyes flaring. He raced forward, footfalls thundering through the ground, and the demon dissolved into nothing more than heavy fog, passing through the Stitcher’s snapping attack and locking around its neck, claws corroding and darkening the tough material protecting its vitals. His wings raised and grew, darkening the raging firelight surrounding them. Then fight, thou of crumbling bones and human flesh! He hitched his grip tighter. Stop using your children as your puppets, selfish mother. His wings shuddered and sharpened into fragmented shards, launching towards the Empress 
A few hundred yards away, a cluster of fiends dragged a woman thrashing and screaming in rage from a manmade tunnel in the canyon wall. Her short, cropped red hair was wild and tangled, her cheeks flushed, her palms glowing green as she tried to fight her kidnappers.  
The Empress: “You really are a foolish child, who knows nothing of history.” The stitcher still entangled in the Laird’s grasp. “The only one here that’s a puppet is you,” Her voice echoed around his mind, shaking his vision. “Your thoughts, my strings.” The light flickered in his peripherals again, before jetting across his vision entirely. 
The Laird was knelt before H’zola, her thumb pressed into his forehead. Golden white lightning played about her still, the edges of the sphere could be seen behind her. “Would it wound your pride to know how long you’ve been here, fighting an imaginary battle in your head?”
The Warden: The Warden stood with her black-blue palms to the barrier, eyes wide, but no longer fearful, her children standing anxiously behind her. The Laird’s composed demeanor fell apart in a flash and his essence stretched into a howling, bestial face, features smearing. Witch!! Fiend!! Coward!! he raged, his dark essence blasting past her like a black sandstorm. You think yourself so clever! I have what I need! I will be back for you, and you will die!! I ̱͔͈͚ͅw̫i͖̻͈͉̤̦l̖̟͓͙l̪̹̱̯ ̞͚̙̪k̦͍̭͕͙i͓͙̥̤̘l̟̪̙͖̝̥͉l̘̻̭̝ ̹̬̬̟̬̘y̱̫̜̩ou͓͍͎͙͍̼͍!!̤
He shot past her, shattering the barrier, racing straight for the young mage they had pulled from her hiding spot. She struggled free from the wraiths at the last minute and tried to stumble to her feet to run, but the Laird rushed in around her, enveloping her in a storming sphere, and then he and the girl vanished, sucked into thin air. There was nothing left but the terrified people and the greedy fire.
Nala rushed forward and caught her mother by the forearms. I’m sorry, he distracted me, I feared he would harm you, but–!
T͜haţ ̸w̨as şo c͞o͏o̡l! Phijo said giddily, punching the air with two of her fists. Di̴d y̛ou̢ s̶ee̢ ̴h̡o͡w͡ ͜mad he w̶a͢s? Did͟ yo͡ų!? T͜h̵at̨ w̨a̕s AẂE͞SOM̡E. 
The Empress: “Don’t worry my dear, all too often young demons forget their place.” H’zola grinned widely at that statement, eyes locking onto Nalaagura. She tucked her wand back into its satchel and stretched her weary arms. The Empress turned her attention to Phijo, “Why thank you, I do enjoy a bit of showmanship. I do wonder if that youngling knows quite how hard I am to kill, however.”
The Warden: Nala’s eyes darted to the side for a moment. He should…he just tends to lose his temper, especially when he is a sore loser. She looked around at her children. I have something I must discuss briefly, children. Will you assist the humans in extinguishing the fires?
Yes, mother! the Caesar said amicably, turning to trot off with the Chieftain to one of the nearby rivers while Phijo took flight again after giving her mother a suspicious look. Nala took a deep breath after they were gone, shielding the conversation to herself and H’zola. Her still-dark fingers played along her upper arm aimlessly. 
His power is incomparable to yours, is it not? she finally said, her essence cooling. The embers drifted around her as she looked past her mother, determined 
The Empress: “Your intuitions are correct. Each subsequent generation of demons loses a touch of power. Fractions of fractions.” H’zola stared into Nalaagura, a soft kindness fell over her face. “But taking a higher life, especially that of our kin, is not something I do lightly anymore. Those spawns of his are trivial, they do not live, they don’t have freedoms or choices.”
She sighed, and walked to a nearby stone, seating herself on it. “But that’s not what you really want to ask, is it?”
The Warden: Her fingers squeezed her arm as her consciousness released a gush of relief mixed with apprehension. Not quite, she said after a reluctant pause, emotion coloring her words. She looked in the direction he had disappeared, contemplating her next words, a seeming non-sequitur. I wanted to ask…how you managed the pain of the Praetor’s betrayal, your own son turning on his family. Her hand curled into a fist. What you would have done if you were there for his final moments.
The Empress: “There’s only two things I could have done, Nalaagura. Save him or kill him myself. But in letting him live it would have been an imprisoned meaningless existence in the safety of his own mind.” H’zola looked in the direction the smoke was wafting an air of sadness overcame her. “But he needed to die, the danger he posed to our family outweighed the necessity of his life. I’ve told myself that numerous times.”
H’zola sat in silence for several moments, gaze lost in the lazy spirals and drifting of the embers. “But it would have been better if I was the one to make the choice and end his existence. You have to be the one to stop your offspring dear Warden, I couldn’t put the emptiness I feel from his undoing onto you.”
The Warden: Nala loosened her stance, shutting her eyes tightly and dropping her fists down to her side, then turning in frustration, pacing a few long strides forward and stretching out her hand. The flames from a nearby house stretched and flew towards her in several streams of heat and flooded into her fingertips, the strong light dispelling the leftovers of the Laird’s essence and washing through her along the path of her veins. The light dimmed as the burning timbers dwindled into blackened logs.
That was different, she said in frustration. It was…he’s young, he’s not dangerous. He can change. I can change him. This is different. I cannot do it again, Kelzsam I never had a love for, but Reneshon– Her voice choked and her fists shook. I just need to teach him a lesson and bring him home again. Then I can tell my children the truth and…everything will be all right again. I just need more time.
The Empress: H’zola approached cautiously, placing a tentative hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “I wish I could believe the same as you, I believed I could change Kelzsam. His final betrayal was most definitely not the first.” A pleading came into her voice, trembling through. “Do not let your love for your children cloud your judgement of how dangerous they are.”
The Warden: Nala jerked her shoulder away, hugging herself moodily, staring into the distant flames. The faint distant footsteps of Shi’pai and Bia’donn approaching drew her attention and she began walking towards them, away from her mother. Let’s just go.
Category:The Warden
Category:The Empress
Category:The Chieftain
Category:The Scribe
Category:The Caesar
Category:The Witch
Category:The Laird
Category:Events
Category:Legacy