Shadow of the Abyss

Stilgar Grimm was perhaps the last

thing

Azura wanted to see within her Rotten Lands. Not after his humiliating defeat by the Hands of Iliana, though that wasn't a proper appraisal of his power. If her intel was correct, Iliana was perhaps the strongest Abyssal General the Abyssal Empress, Lilith Snow, had under her belt. That was to say, nothing of the Twelve other Generals that aren't too far apart from the other.

Azura had seen her from a distance a few times and had decided not to intervene in her business. Her instincts decreed it. Had she approached, Azura had no doubt that the two would engage in a battle to the death. A very dangerous woman.

Pinning the ghoulishly pale Stilgar with a flat stare, still not fully recovered from his latest savaging, a sneer crept over Azura's lips, "I don't believe I've given you permission to enter my paradise." If he weren't so useful, there would be no doubt that Azura would not have fully Deflied him—stripping him completely from the Hands of the Almighty. It would be the least she could do.
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Slight offense touched his face, and he had the sense to bite back whatever foul thing he had been about to say. His lips opened and closed, opening again, "My Lady," he bowed. "I meant no offense invading your lands without formal notice, but—"

"Yet invade you have." Azura cut in. "I've killed men for less, or was your arrogance towards Iliana not reason enough to have me kill you? You've humiliated us all, boy. We exist in the shadows, yet all of Genisis knows about us. All of Hell is aware that we have returned."

"The existence of the Hells makes no difference!" Stilgar barked. "They've known about our existence for—"

Azura could have slapped the fool man. Did he think that the countless eras that passed them were for not? Nearly two Hell cycles they spent trying to master the optics of the Myriad Heavens, manipulating various courses of events. There simply hadn't been a single failure since Altair Blackwood came into focus.

"Be silent!" she snapped, more harshly than intended. "What would a fool like you know? You whose responsibility it is to control all of those of the Golden Crucible. Can't even control one boy. Tell me, have you recovered from the slaughter Altair laid upon you? All your agents slaughtered. And for what? Because you had to antagonize him."

"Antagonize! Woman, he is a child! A child not even made God!" The fool Grimm snapped. His dark, sultry gold eyes ignited into flames. "A brat whose not even seen all of Heaven and Hell. Azura, this is an affront! He is too dangerous to leave unattended."

"First a boy, now he's too dangerous? Make up your mind, Stilgar; you'll die otherwise, and it won't be by my hands. You went against our rules by targeting Altair without any proper guidance on how to handle him. You've even set up a foolish marriage with the First Tower to spite one of his loved ones."

"You went along with it!"

"True," Azura nodded. "But what other choice did we have? You did it without warning. To not seem divided, we had no choice but to agree. It took all three of us to settle Adam down. And you…" She kept her face still, though it took everything she had not to have this man tormented until the concept of time eroded to nothing.

Stilgars face was sweaty. He had ruined hundreds, thousands of their plans involving any one of the Genisis Towers. Worse, he had gotten Bios, the Seventh Tower, involved. For all the good he had done since he had been partially Defiled, all of it had been ruined when their bloody Archon sieged search to the family they'd cultivated for thousands of Chaos Cycles. And all because he could not handle recruits.

"It's more of a reason to have Altair killed," Stilgar said harshly; the shamelessness of the man was perhaps unmatched. What gave him the gall to stand before her, much less anyone, simply made her expression blank.

She had to kill him—there was no doubt—Stilgar had to die.

It didn't matter that the fool man was third disciple to

Muardral, the First Grimm, turned traitor;

he had to die.

Azura's hands were itching. A need so great blaring in her ears that Stilgar's words began to fade in and out.'

"...If we… Altair… Dead… Luna… Tenebrae… Ruxas…"

Finally returning to herself, Azura quelled the killing intent in her heart the best she could, though admittedly not very well, and took a deep breath. "Stil… this is your last chance. I don't care how you do it. I don't need your reasoning. You will rein in Altair Blackwood. And you will ensure he lives. We do not need trouble from Iliana nor the other Twelve Abyssal Generals. We struggle with the Myriad Heavens alone. We don't need to add the Abyss, which is already too deep into our business, that is allowed.

"No. I don't want to hear it. I don't. I will kill you myself if you fail. Altair needs to be reined in. The other Heads are already dealing with your fuck up with the First Tower. If you cannot control Altair without incurring the rage of Iliana, his bloody master, by the time he reaches the Fiftieth floor. You'll not have to worry about Altair dying because both of you will suffer the same faith."

"Azura, you—"

"Goodbye, Mr. Stilgar."

****

Altair had not sneezed since he was a boy but had to scratch his nose in irritation, sniffling as he half said to himself, "Is someone talking about me?" Suspicious, he looked around his antechamber, finding nothing but Medusa's penetrating stare at him off to the side from a stack of papers in her hand, and smiled. "Must be my imagination. What's up with you? Hungry?"

Medusa gave a start. "Well, you've got a load of paperwork from Tera." she propped it down onto the table, a stack so high it nearly consumed the top half of his body.

A slight grimace touched Altair's face as he tapped the paper, with a slight touch of omniscience before inscribing everything he needed without the need to go through each and every paper.

"Done. You can have this back." He laughed when he caught her jealous eyes. "Oh, don't be that way. It's not my fault you, as my Forsaken, don't have this ability."

The woman grumbled, muttering half-heartily to herself, before she took the papers back, vanishing in a flash of eldritch light, only to return half a breath later without the large stack.

"Aurora says you have her thanks."

"Oh, I bet," he muttered. Ever since he had taken up the Sin of Sloth, Altair had found his ability to multitask just about improved by countless levels; cupped with his Psionic Mind, he tended to find work that was tedious before now being complete in seconds. In a short six months, he had implemented so many new laws, taxes, and tariffs that Tera, formally Earth, was unrecognizable from what it once was.

There were Seven Countries on Tera, each with a king and queen, but each, already under the command of their God, bent a knee to his regime. No doubt after Athena's insistence on the matter. Any sort of resistance or discontent some of the Godlings had towards him was rooted out and exterminated. Of course, there was a bit of a cultural difference between the seven countries, but Altair could do nothing about that, not that he wanted to. Changes could be made here and there to give him whatever he wanted.

That was especially true now that he had the help of Ashara and her Succubus. It only took two of them to handle a few of the more stubborn men and women. And once they were disposed of and replaced with his men, Tera would officially be his in every sense of the word.

"Athena will be joining me in a few days," he said suddenly, watching for a reaction from Medusa. He had hoped that there would be none, but the slight tremors rippling through her were more than he could hope for.

"I didn't know," she finally said in a heavy breath.

"Part of my confirmed schedule was a part of that stack of paper. I just learned of it. I'm sorry."

Medusa shook her head. "No, there isn't a need for you to apologize. It's fine. I—"

"Poseidon will be with her."

If what he had said about Athena's arrival sent tremors through her body, Medusa practically toppled over when she heard that.

Altair hurried over to help her to her feet. Her hands were oddly smooth, softer than silk. "You don't have to be here. You can wait in the Palace of Stygian if you like. In fact, I recommend it."

Those reptilian eyes of hers convulsed erratically. "What is he doing here?! Why would he want to see you?"

Altair scratched his head, half apologetic. "Well. Since the matter of who my Master is about to be revealed soon. A few gods are about to realize that I am Nox De Nier. And with more attention on me. It's only a matter of time before the identity of my lineage is proclaimed. If it wasn't when the Abyssal Empress informed the Myriad who I am. I figured if I'm about to be screwed, I'd better make the best of it."

"So you're going to use Posiden!" Medusa sounded outraged, though he couldn't blame her. The God of the Sea was a rapist. Worse, he had assaulted Medusa.

He patted her shoulder, and she pulled away, the disgust on her face all but palpable. He sighed, for it was all he could do.

"Medusa. I am an Emperor. There will be people I have to shake hands with, whether I like it or not. However…" He leaned close to her face, and a childlike smile blossomed across his lip. "If you'd like, after I'm done using him. We can carve him up any way you like. I was planning on doing that anyway."