Oblivion Ch. 02

The floor was of black stone, as were the walls, though a red carpet stretched from the beginning of the hall to the foot of his thrown. Sashes, ribbons, and tapestries of scarlet, crimson, violet, and purple hung decoratively along the walls. Torches hung every few feet down the walls and a single large window was set into the outside wall of the tower beside his throne to let in the red, yellow, and orange lights of the bruised sky.

"Sire," the demon general called as the small group approached the throne.

"Oh? I'm sorry, I must have drifted off. Been so bored waiting, Creed. How long did it take you? Five days? A week? Seems like it's been at least a year. Took you long enough anyway," the man stated as he swung his leg over the arm of the chair and sat up in a much more proper manner.

"It's been perhaps an hour since you last saw me," the demon general, Creed, responded.

"Oh. Well time really has no meaning here unless I give it meaning, so the matter is meaningless. Who have you brought? Visitors. I like visitors! Come, come! We have a scawp, a crying child, and an apparently rather evasive mortal woman. This really should be interesting! So, what brings you all here?" asked the man who certainly must have been the great, powerful, mighty, and feared god, Lord Daedronus.

Kristasia had no idea how to answer him as his dark eyes watched her all too intensely.

"Well, speak up. I can't quite hear you over all this silence," he ordered, prompting her with a slight nod of his head.

"I suppose we're here because you want us here. Are you not a god?" she finally asked. "Do you not rule this realm and everything in it?"

"Oh. No, certainly not. Well, I mean, I am a god. I do rule the Sixth Realm. But this, dear girl, is the Ninth Realm, and I have seven brothers who rule it also. Though, come to think of it, I'm not so sure you'd really like to meet any of them. They're all rather... boring. They're all also a bit... well... I hate to be rude, but... they're all a bit crazy, honestly," the demon god stated.

"And you're not?" Kristasia asked, for she could hardly believe this man was an all-powerful god.

"Crazy? Crazy? Me? Creed! Do you think I'm crazy?" Daedronus demanded as he turned to the Daedran general behind them.

"Oh, if but this realm had mental institutions, my Lord," Creed replied dryly.

"Scawp," Daedronus said ever so sweetly to the snarling little creature beside Kristasia.

"Scawp is me," the creature replied as he looked up.

"Yes, poor beast, I know that. You are Scawp and I am speaking to you. Did you bring me these girls all the way from the spider's nest?" Daedronus asked softly, as though he were speaking to a child.

"Yes! Scawp brought New Master and Child all the way from spider's nest!" Scawp exclaimed, rather excited that his accomplishments were being noted.

"Would you like to have Creed's job?" Daedronus then asked, his black-lipped grin cutting up both cheeks.

"Scawp get his job?" Scawp asked as he turned to look up at the demon general.

"Oh, you never stop, do you?" Creed demanded, shaking his head miserably.

"Why shouldn't he have your job? He's obviously capable of doing it better than you are!" Daedronus roared with laughter.

"Haven't you put your show on for long enough yet?" Creed then demanded.

"Why do you rush me? You're always rushing me. Sire, come quickly, your brother's brats are invading the eastern islands! Sire, you must hurry, there's a tear in the universe! Sire, your brother's brats have invaded the Sixth Realm and are wreaking havoc, we must hurry! Sire, come quickly, the Daedran are revolting! It's always a rush with you!" Daedronus complained dramatically as he threw his head back and flung out his arms.

"This may be all a game to you, but our lives actually mean something to us," Kristasia announced angrily.

"Oh, I'm certain they do. Sorry. Let me try for a bit more seriousness since you all seem to want to rush me. Bring me the child," Lord Daedronus ordered as he sat back on his throne.

"Don't you touch her!" Kristasia snarled, placing herself immediately between Lonia and Creed. Even Scawp hissed.

"Oh, don't bother," Daedronus sighed, rolling his eyes.

In an instant, without a muscle moved, Lonia was perched in his lap, her wide blue eyes staring up at the demon god with wonder. He was, despite the crimson rims of his eyes, a perfectly normal-looking and ridiculously attractive man. His skin was smooth and fit the perfect bone structure of his face admirably. Though only a child, the little girl stared up at him in wonder, lost in the perfection of his handsome features.

"There. We've stopped crying now, haven't we?" he asked her rather sweetly as he brought up one thumb to dry the tears from her cheeks. "You've had such a sad life, little one, haven't you? So much cruelty and you're only six years old. How did you survive it all?"

"Krissy takes care of me," the little girl answered softly.

"So she does. I see so much of her in your memories, but she is not your mother. What would you like, child?" Daedronus asked her softly as he brushed his fingers through her golden curls.

"To stay with Krissy forever," she whispered.

"Ah, but forever is a long time. You do not know how long it is. Too long, I think, for a child to decide such a fate."

"I want to stay with Krissy forever and the mountains and trees and field of flowers," Lonia replied firmly.

"Mountains and trees and field of flowers? Let me see," he said, his eyelids closing for but a moment. "Ah. The stories she tells you. Is that how you think they look? Silly child, they look much different, though I'm not so sure your vision isn't better. You want to go there someday."

"Only with Krissy."

"Then that is her dream, not yours. Perhaps you will have your own in time. Tell me, sweet, do you have something that belongs to me?" he asked gently as he looked down at the child.

"A white stone," she whispered. "It's what you're looking for, isn't it?"

"Yes. Very good. But you don't have it anymore? You gave it to... her," Daedronus said as he turned to eye Kristasia with a strangely dark look.

Daedronus lifted the child up into his arms as he descended his throne and carried her back to Kristasia's waiting arms. As tall as Creed, and built no less significantly, he towered over Kristasia as he lowered the child back down to her.

"It's your turn," he told her as he reached towards her.

Kristasia pulled away, but his hand found a lock of her hair anyway and his eyelids slid shut, if only briefly.

"Don't be afraid. So much fear in you, yet you act so bravely. Your life has been much crueler than hers. I'm surprised you have anything left to fear. There are few things here and there," he said, his eyes opening again.

"Does it matter to you?" she demanded.

"Of course it matters. I didn't start this world. It was here long before I was. There was just nothing in it. I created everything around you. Your realm, the world you grew up in, was empty of life. Then I made you. Your race. You lived. You breathed. You feared. You hated. You enjoyed. You loved. You cried. You gave the realm harmony and you gave me more power. It is from you mortals that all my power comes. I draw from the energy of countless souls and you are one of them. It matters to me what you think, how you think, what you feel, how you feel, and why. Even a god cannot make all mortals happy. It is against your nature. But you are here and I can grant you both a wish. Tell me what will make you happy," he said.

"Her wellbeing," Kristasia replied simply.

"No. There are other things to make you happy. Once you dreamed of a little family, a husband, children, and a farm in the mountains of your home. Wouldn't that make you happy?"

"Only if it would last forever."

"You mortals and your use of that word really offends me. You know nothing of forever. Creed, how long have we been here?" Daedronus demanded as he looked past Kristasia to the demon general behind her.

"Oh, about sixteen billion, five hundred seventy-two million, six hundred eighty-three thousand, one hundred twenty-two years, eighteen days," Creed responded drolly.

"About?" Daedronus asked. "You're not keeping count anymore?"

"Well you told me to stop bringing up hours, Sire, but if you must know, add seventeen hours and forty-seven minutes."

"You mean to tell me our sixteen billion, five hundred seventy-two million, six hundred eighty-three thousand, one hundred twenty-second anniversary of existence was less than a month ago and you didn't even remind me? I would have had a party or something," Daedronus stated. "Now we'll have to wait until next year! I should start doing that, come to think of it."

"Sire, would you please..." Creed began.

"I'm getting there! Anyway, if you think about your meager twenty years of existence, can you please at least try to comprehend a tiny little bit of forever?" Daedronus asked nicely as he turned back to Kristasia.

"My love for this child," she replied softly.

The demon god gave her a rather strange look for the longest moment before he finally closed his eyes.

"And if you had your own children? If she died?" he demanded.

"She would still have my love, even if it only was for a tiny little bit of forever."

A cold sweat suddenly broke out across the demon god's brow. His face tightened in what appeared to be an expression of pain. His palms jumped to his temples and he held his head with an expression of raw agony for the longest time. Finally his eyes opened, completely blood red and tears of blood spilled down his cheeks.

"Are you okay?" Lonia asked him softly as she stared up at the strange man.

Through a haze of blood he looked down at the child, his breathing rapid as his jaw clenched tightly.

"I am fine. This body is a physical manifestation and it does not like to experience parts of the unphysical world," he replied as he wiped the blood from his eyes. "I shall heal it quickly."

Within seconds, he had and his eyes returned to their normal charcoal tone.

"What happened to you?" Kristasia demanded.

"I went off to glimpse the future. You're both so set and determined on forever and I wished to see if I could give it to you. I think... I think that... if you are willing... I think that I can. I know all that is now and I know all that was, but the things that will be are often beyond my grasp. If you wish to spend forever together, then spend it here. Spend it with me," he offered, his voice dipping into a tone which she had yet to hear from him. One that sounded of genuine expression. He was, she realized, rather asking a question.

"If you will stay here, with me, I'll give you forever, and anything else you have or will ever want," he stated.

"I... I don't believe I know what you're saying," Kristasia said, shaking her head.

Less than six hours ago, she had been slave. Now a demon god was asking her to be with him? Had she fallen and hit her head?

"I understand. I don't, really, but I do. You need time to think, to understand. If you'll come with me, I'll show you something that may make your mind clearer," he then offered, extending his hand to her.

Kristasia paused for a long moment. So much had happened in the last several hours. She was so unsure. Something about his eyes made her reach down for Lonia's hand as she extended hers to him.

"No. You must leave her here. Creed will take good care of her," Daedronus stated.

"Sire, I've never seen a child in my life besides this one," Creed interrupted quickly.

"See? They're already fast friends. He has only eyes for her," the demon god responded.

"Daedronus, I beg you, do not leave me alone with a child!" Creed cried.

"Don't fear for her. Fear for him," Daedronus added with a rather charming grin.

"Scawp take good care Child!" the little creature declared.

"See? She'll be fine. Come on," the demon god offered.

"How can I trust you?" Kristasia demanded.

"I do have infinite amounts of power, so if I wanted to harm the child, I probably would have done it by now. If I wanted to harm you, I probably would have done it by now. But I suppose I see your point. I might very well take you away with me somewhere and you'll never see her again. I suppose you'll just have to have faith. If you deny my offer, I'll send the two of you back to the mortal realm, right through that portal, and into the waiting arms of your rather incensed previous master," the demon god stated. "So, with that said, now you don't have a choice, which makes choosing easier. Come."

"Promise you'll bring me back to her," Kristasia ordered.

"I promise."

"Swear it."

"I swear."

"Swear it on your own existence and everything in this realm and everything you hold dear," she demanded fiercely.

The demon god paused for the longest of moment.

"I swear."

"Sire!" Creed exclaimed, his eyes widening as if his lord had done a most blasphemous thing.

"I'll be right back. I promise," Kristasia said softly to the child.

"I'll be okay," Lonia whispered back. "Scawp will take care of me."

"If you weren't my lord, I'd murder you," Creed hissed to the demon lord as he took Kristasia's hand.

"I'm certain of it. Make sure the child is well cared for."

"What am I supposed to do with her?" Creed demanded.

"I don't know. Play with her," the demon god said with a shrug before both he and Kristasia disappeared.

"Play with her?" Creed demanded of the empty air, his jaw slack.

"I like to play with dolls," Lonia offered.

The demon general looked down at her in a look of total and utter disbelief. Finally he shook his head and the expression was replaced by one of grim determination.

"Alright. Dolls. Scawp, make yourself useful and find some toys," Creed ordered the creature.

"Scawp not like to get things. Scawp not get things anymore. Scawp not get for anyone but Master. Master not ask Scawp. Scawp not get," the creature said, crossing little clawed hands over its chest as it shook its head and waved its tail.

"For pity's sake," the Daedran cried.

"I also like to jump rope," Lonia suggested.

"This is my Divinity Room," Daedronus introduced as they appeared in a small circular room with walls of glass.

The ceiling was of black stone exempting a small hole of open air above a stone well in the center of the room. Perched over the well was an empty metal cradle.

"Put the stone back where it belongs," he ordered, motioning to the cradle above the well.

Kristasia reached into the pocket of her dress and removed the glowing white stone. Carefully she placed it back in its cradle. The stone began to glow and the water in the well was bathed with its sparkling light.

"Now look out to the west where the storm clouds end. Do you see the clear sky?" he asked softly.

"Yes," Kristasia answered as the sky to the west began to clear to a beautiful blue.

"Not all the sky shall clear, but only the half that must clear. My tower, though in the hellish half of my land, is near its center. This tower is in the far west. It spreads my power out across the pleasant parts of my land. Without this stone, those meant to find peace will suffer also. My land is in halves. Half of peace and prosperity. Half of chaos and misery. But in those halves there is balance. Souls go into the mortal realm and are scarred, damaged, bruised, blackened. They must come here to be cleansed. Some are cleansed through peace. Some are cleansed through suffering. My job is to care for all the souls of the Sixth Realm. You can't have just peace or just suffering. You must have both in equal amounts. I provide that. Though my realm itself is a lower realm and is more chaotic than the higher realms, darker, and is full of more suffering, it is much more balanced than what my brothers have," Daedronus explained as he stared out at the clearing sky.

"What do you mean by all this?" Kristasia asked.

"I mean to say that there is a purpose in everything, even if it seems cruel. The purpose is hard for a mortal to comprehend. Even I don't comprehend some things," he admitted softly. "I know what your purpose is, what my purpose is. Every creature has a purpose. Sometimes I do wonder why. Why we do this. All of it. I'm so bored. I'm so tired. I'm alone. Surrounded by millions of souls, I'm alone. I ask for you to stay here with me, not as a mistress or a lover. As a wife. Forever. The child too, of course. I have looked far into the future, so far that my eyes bleed from it, and if you decide to accept my offer, I see us together to the far reaches of eternity. I see that with no one else. I know the world you entered into frightened you. It's full of strange and scary things, frightening beasts. It's dark and horrific. But it is a much easier task to sit in paradise and watch mortals be cleansed than it is to sit in hell and watch them suffer. That's why I rule here. So that I may be reminded how you suffer and so that I may keep mercy in my heart and be fair in both my reward and punishment. But we can go elsewhere. We can live beneath the blue sky if it suits you. I just want you to stay."

"We've only just met," she whispered, taken quite aback by his words.

"But I have seen your whole life in an instant and our life together in another. I don't expect you to understand. But can you accept it? For if you only accept it, in time, you will come to understand," he explained.

"You don't make much sense, you know," she stated.

"Certainly not. Not to mortals. My thoughts are everywhere at once. But they make sense to me. In time, perhaps, they should make more sense to you as well. Simply I offer you the chance to stay here, with the child, in safety, peace, and harmony, forever. You won't get sick, grow old, suffer, want, hunger, thirst, or die. Neither shall she. I ask that you marry me and end my loneliness. The other option is that you return to the mortal realm and take your chances with the rest of your meager existence before inevitably returning here before being reincarnated again, over and over again, for the rest of eternity. Your memories will be erased with each reincarnation. You will remember neither me nor the child, neither your lovers nor the ones you most despised. How should you choose?" he asked.

"Marry you? I've never been married."

"Neither have I."

"In sixteen billion years you've never cared enough to marry anyone, but now you offer it to me? Am I really so special?" she demanded.

"Apparently. But you know, it was not really that simple. I spent so much of that time building this kingdom here, creating my Daedran, and building the universe. It's only been about twenty-thousand years since I created your kind. So, with that said, it's only been twenty-thousand years," Daedronus answered seriously. "That's really not that long."

"And there have been no women before me?" she asked sharply.

"Certainly there have been. I am a god, but I do get lonely. None of them wished to stay with me though. They yearn for their human lives, no matter what I do. It seems that mortals, to some degree or another, would prefer to live in at least occasional suffering than in constant bliss. Of course, most souls have been reincarnated several times. It's very seldom that a new soul is born, and yours, and that of the child, are both new. You've never died, you know?" he asked rather casually.

"Where do new souls come from?" Kristasia asked.

"Such a simple question and such a complicated answer. Your world is physical. All of the lower eight realms are. All the matter and energy in them that ever was, always will be. That is a law of physics, a law of the physical. It takes a very precise amount of both matter and energy to create a world. An exact amount of both. Less energy would not support more matter and less matter would not power more energy, but too much energy would overcome the matter and too much matter would overcome the energy. Too little of either would not sustain the boundaries of the realm, and too much of either would break the boundaries, effectively destroying the realm itself in either scenario. Each realm can only exist and can only function with a certain amount of both. You must understand that," Daedronus began.