Shadow of the Abyss

"In the minds of every palatine lineage, the receptors that register pain and happiness or fear in our brains are unlocked. A double-sided sword if you ask me, but there are benefits to it. Why is this important? It's a factor when we talk about the Ninth Form. In theory, we can fall so deep into madness that there isn't hope to escape— not unless we know how to create balance.

Madness is good, but don't get me wrong, too much of anything is bad. I learned that the hard way. You are in a state of balance. The madness is high, but your pride and honor maintain your decorum.

"That is the opposite for the Vale King, at least in a way. Madness in him is at an all-time high, but rather than pride. He craves lust and greed. A stark difference between you two. That is to your advantage. Shhh.

Don't speak. Listen. Whatever the both of you feel empowers you. That is a fact. The Ninth Form decrees it. Now is where we must make the necessary distinction between you two.

To extreme ends, pulling at each other. Pride versus Lust and Greed. These sins will empower you past what you both can grasp.

"What? You don't think you're prideful? Well, Beelzebub believes you've got an affinity for Sloth; maybe that's true. I can't say until you embrace the path yourself. What I can say is that the Vale King has already chosen his path. All sins are fundamentally connected.

You can't have one without the other. So, if you don't want him to take over, you'll pick one sooner rather than later. Sleep on what I said. I'll give you a month to decide."

Slowly reflecting on Iliana's lesson for today, Altair lowered his head down to his lap. He didn't quite understand why he needed to pick a sin to follow. Couldn't he also pick a virtue?

A small voice in the back of his mind laughed scornfully. "Virtues twisted by madness become sins, you fool." The Vale King, speaking to his consciousness. It was a feeling Altair could never get accustomed to. At least when he spoke, it often made sense, though most of the time, it was about sleeping with someone or another.

He ignored the Vale King, hurrying out of the carriage to the approaching twilight. He would take over soon. It was strange. The Vale King had five hours a day, yet he chose from the hour of twilight and on. Never stopping to switch, to stretch those five hours throughout the day. Well, it was none of his business.

Tonight, they had set camp along the outskirts of the Mountains of Thar; Altair had wanted to travel through the night but had gotten so caught up in one of Iliana's lectures that time got the better of him.

Scanning the faces of a few Forsaken standing guard, Altair sighed. There were so many; there was simply no way to remember all their names in the short time he had known them. Raven had never taken them out all at once, so it left little time for him to mark their names or faces. Still, each was as skilled as the last, patrolling the grounds.

"Master!" The voice did not belong to Tasha or Raven. Rather, it was Elena hurrying over to him.

The Vale King had been training her, or rather, he was experimenting with the Band of the Incubus and all its little abilities—there were many. He was peeling the layers of her psyche. It was almost hard to watch.

For all the time he had known Elena, she had dressed quite modestly. She seemed to have thrown away that model to wear a collar and a blazing red dress, far too tight for any sort of decency, and the v-shape neck cut so deep to her navel, one might think her breasts were on the verge of popping out. They certainly would if she kept running like that.

"I did what you asked," she continued, her cheek flaring, as she placed one hand on her bottom. "The new one was a bit thicker, but I forced it in."

The brand of the Incubus was certainly frightening. Even Altair had to blush at that one. He remembered the Vale King's instructions quite well. They had both started learning about the School of Transfiguration, the art of creation. And as practice, the Vale King had decided on creating… toys for Elena as a way to remember him throughout the day, with an added vibrating function.

Still, he patted her head and said, "Good job." If she had had that thing in her all day, that certainly was impressive. Unfortunately, what he hadn't expected was Elena's jerking reactions as if a bolt had struck her. She stiffened, eyes rolling out as her tongue lulled out—Hells Almighty.

'Did she just…' he shook his head, forcing himself not to take two steps back. Not with so many people present.

Pulling himself together, he said," You're dripping in front of everyone. Go before they notice if they haven't already." They probably had. Elena's sudden jerk had been so out of touch that anyone might have seen it.

The woman blushed, lowering her head as she nodded, "Kay" be for hurrying off. The Vale King would seek her out later.

Medusa was staring disapprovingly near the fire where she sat with the other woman. She certainly was determined not to like the Vale King.

"Can you teach me anything, Medusa," he asked as the silence echoed the night.

Tasha harumphed. "Master, I could personally teach you infernal—"

"If I wanted something from you, I'd ask." He snapped, more harshly than he Intended. He would not forget her serving two masters. Not now.

Tasha drained of color, then flushed when a few of the women eyed her up and down. She lowered her head.

"What would you like to know?" Medusa hurriedly said.

"I want to know about toxins. Master has me preoccupied a lot. She says I don't need to fight anymore since my soul is too much for my flesh. So sucking in random knowledge is best."

"What about your Path? You're Dao? The Dao of medicine is quite… convoluted, you know."

Altair blinked in surprise. "You know about that?"

The women all smiled for some reason before Raven said, "We all asked about what you were learning from Iliana. All We had to do was bribe her with some wine."

"That son of…." Clearing his throat, he continued in a calmer voice. "I mean, that sounds like her."

It was the women's laughter that made him fluster in front of them. Even Tasha laughed before he glared at her—he certainly had to do something about this woman—the sudden outburst at her was a form of weakness, he had determined. Still, he had a right to be man.

'Two masters, my ass! She is mine!'

"as I was saying, I don't really mind teaching you, but how many Daos are you currently mastering?"

"Including Abyssal? The Sword, Darkness, Spatial, Time, Light, Fire, and Blood. Why? What's with those looks?" It was not a very uncomfortable feeling that peculiar eye from the women around him. If he was flustered before, he felt red now. "What?"

"Master," it was Tasha who started. "I don't mean this to make you feel bad, but how are you alive?"

Altair blinked. Alive? Why shouldn't he be alive? The woman was speaking in riddles. "What are you implying?"

"There is only so much our souls can handle, Master. I can't speak for other Daos, but your Dao with a Sword is immaculate. You are even better than me. And I don't say that lightly. I am a devil. A royal devil.

My soul is made to handle torment. So what I'm trying to ask is if all your dao is at the level of your sword.

"Not at the level, but a close second. If my swordsmanship is at a grade of C, then my other Dao is at the Grade of D+. I really don't get the shocked faces. Master said that those with a palatine lineage do not have the same mental limitations as other people. You should understand. I can take in as much Dao as I want."

"Well.. that is true. But it really does explain why you suffer from Soul Exhaustion." Tasha mumbled. "It's really like the Silver Devil. He was like that, too. In one of the records, they said after he created the Sword Path, he had many bouts with Soul Exhaustion that forced the First Daughter of the Nine Hells to care for him."

Altair blinked. "The Sword Path is powerful, but why would it force Soul Exhaustion?"

Medusa answered him. "That was the lower realms, Altair. If you were to descend to a lower Heaven, you'd be a supreme being; more than that, you'd be so powerful that your aura might break that very heaven. It might not feel like it to you or anyone present, but we are actually in a very high Heaven. Let me ask you this? How many dimensions do you think we are in?"

"Four," he answered simply.

"If each heaven is considered a dimension, then we are currently in a Heaven with thirty dimensions in total. Your mind simply can't comprehend what that means yet, so you see it in four dimensions."