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Metamor Keep: Divine Travails of Rats
by Charles Matthias and Ryx
Pars IV: Infernus
(y)
Saturday, May 12, 708 CR
Expediency, Sir Matthias. Your Eli was not
responding and so you turned to the Pantheon. You
can hardly be blamed for that. In fact, I applaud
you for it. We have always been dutiful to your
race, solicitous to our disciples and generous
with our power. I make no distinction between the
aedra and my own daedra in this. We need each
other to keep the world in balance, even if the
aedra do need to be reminded of this. What is
important is this: you sought the aid of the
Pantheon and received what you asked for.
Charles felt his tar-coated body simmer with an
inner fire. And they did nothing for my child! They let my Ladero die!
Yes, Ba'al agreed, a note of sadness touching
his voice. Yes, they did. I am deeply grieved
for your sorrow. They do give as they should
sometimes but I fear their power has made them
more arrogant than they must be. Until you have
done something for them, they do nothing for you.
I do not believe my communion with my disciples
should flow but one way. I am a generous
suzerainty, Sir Matthias. You have already
received the benefit of my largesse.
He backed his ears and scoffed. How?
Ba'al's smile seemed a crescent moon. The Curses
of Metamor. Nasoj thought I would help him
conquer the Midlands. He thought to make a third
of you animals, but I always intended that the
transformation would only be part-way. They
provided you with a place to hide, Sir Matthias,
and have since brought you a wife and a family,
all of you rats. That was my hand guiding the
Curse. If not for that, you would have continued
to flee and hide from your clan and in the end
you would have been found, brought back, and
faced their judgment. Would Brothus, the White
you fled from, have been merciful? Ba'al shook
his head, ever so briefly closing his eyes as he
did insomuch as they momentarily faded into the
greater darkness of his visage only to reappear a
heartbeat later. The gesture, despite his
appearance, seemed sympathetic, as of a father
fondly counseling his son. No he would not. Would he?
He didn't want to listen, but Charles could not
help but remember that time. To betray the
Sondeckis was an act of gross injustice. He had
fled, unable to murder for his White, Brothus,
any more. For two years he had fled, running from
place to place, first around Sonngefilde, and
then into Galendor. He had even gone into the
Åelfwood to hide from the Sondecki sent to find
him, his childhood friend Jerome Krabbe. He had
lived in near constant fear, sleeping but rarely
and often in filth, eating only what he could
scrounge and sometimes beg, and calling himself
by whatever name could be forgotten. He had been
a nobody, seeking some place into which he could disappear forever.
And then he learned of the Curse and Metamor
Keep. In that place he had gone, and into that
place he had found safety. He had rebuilt his
life, reclaimed his name, and had hidden his
powers behind imaginative stories of a kind he
would never have told amongst the Sondeckis. And
there he met Kimberly, and because of her and his
love for her Jerome had chosen to join him in exile even if not at Metamor.
The Curse Ba'al had arranged for Metamor had
saved him and blessed him. The alternative...
No, Charles admitted with a sigh, black claws
tightening their grip on the Åelf's robe, nearly
tearing through it. No, he would not have. The
Curse of Metamor saved my life and so much more.
Ba'al nodded, his smile thinning but ever present. You see it is as I say.
He did not intend to help you. His aid was given
to the creator of those curses, who failed in its
dispensation, not in benign direction of its results
But, Charles managed to say, his voice almost a
squeak, you did not create the Curses to help
me. Any help I received was unintentional.
Ba'al chuckled, a strangely bright sound. Of
course I did, Sir Matthias. Even you will intend
benefits to more than one person by your actions.
You even intend different benefits to come to
different people by the same action. Your people
have a saying, 'Catching two fish with one lure'.
I have accomplished this for multitudes with one
deed. Not only have I helped you, but I have
helped all the Midlands and even the Giantdowns
by this act. Nasoj's rule is broken. His
lieutenants are scattered or dead. Metamor has
now become a beacon of hope to all who suffer
sickness and disease or who seek a new life. My
hand has accomplished this, Sir Matthias.
But all the death...
Balance; death comes from nature, is a part of
nature, and must come to pass. I wish to bring
that back, Sir Matthias. You wish this as well
which is why you will become my disciple.
No, I will not!
You will be and you are already. Ba'al's
faceless visage adopted a mien of understanding
and patience, while his voice unsettled the rat
with its certainty. But I would be remiss if I
did not provide you with more intimate reasons to be my disciple.
Now he will tempt you.
I am Lord of the Daedra. All of my kind you have
encountered on your journey answer to me. They
can act only with my permission. I have, it is
true, given them broad latitude in how they
pursue their spheres, but I retain the privilege
of restraint and direction. At my command they
will act. I can use this authority to help those
whose lives are important to you. Let me show you
what I intend to provide my newest disciple.
Ba'al extended his left arm and from the darkness
within sprang an illusion that framed the space
beside them. Charles only watched with his right
eye that his left could still glimpse his master
who had not moved a muscle since the hollow's
illumination. He felt as if he stared through a
window into an abandoned home as everything was
dark and cluttered within. He could see trees,
rocks, and the suggestion of a larger forest, but
there was only a vague twilight to reveal each.
The rat only realized that what he saw was the
dense forests of Lilith's realm when a familiar
groundhog and a quartet of loosely clad humans
crept into view. The scene shifted to follow them
as they tracked in silence, eyes ever wary for attack from any direction.
Your friend and fellow Long Scout, Craig
Latoner, Ba'al announced with a suggestion of
fondness in his tone. Before him stretches aeons
unending of life like a true beast. Hiding
beneath the earth. Scrounging for everything. His
only hope is not to end up sacrificed on one of
Lilith's altars. He lives every moment trying to
find newly dead souls and rescue them before they
are captured by Lilith's servants. He will never
know rest. Struggle unending is all that he has.
A mere word from me and he will be plucked from
Lilith's demesnes and brought to the abode of the
just who find peaceful rest beneath the moonlight sky of Nocturna's abode.
Do not think my generosity stops there. The
image faded and then sprung to vibrant life.
Charles sighed as he saw the vast enclosed
gardens of Tallakath's realm. He could see the
pits into which victims were subjected to all
manner of disease and suffering. Wessex walked
between them seeking people to help. Wessex
ard'Kapler hoped at his death that he would
receive rest with his family already dead.
Instead his soul never knows rest. Rather he
endures the anguish of bearing witness to
uncountable suffering, the merest fraction of
which he might alleviate for a time. But
Tallakath knows of Wessex and others like him,
and the time will come when Wessex himself will
be captured and subjected to the horrors you
tasted the merest vapors of. For my disciple he
too shall find rest with the just.
The window flared baleful red and Charles' grip
on the Sondeshike tightened. The black-armored
daedra lord held the massive dire wolf pinned
with one hand around its throat, swords driven
through each shoulder and hip into the stone
table beneath, while the other hand ripped back
layer after layer of flesh, peeling the beast
open like a dissection. The wolf screamed and
writhed, its voice gone hoarse with prolonged
agony. Blood gurgled in its lungs and dripped
like rain from its fur onto the thirsty
bloodstone ground. Arcs of crimson light slashed
from Revonos' fingers into the wolf's flesh,
searing it with intricate runes, each inscription
wrenching forth another anguished howl. Gone were
any glimpses of intelligence. This was a tortured animal begging for death.
Ba'al offered him a sardonic smile. Revonos was
quite distressed at how you provoked defiance in
his pet. You know who this one is, the friend of
the master of the Long Scouts, Edward Snow. He
tried to follow you down the bridge but could not
enter it. You nearly wore a collar like his.
Would a good man such as yourself truly leave him
pet to the Lord of Rage? For my disciple I will
break that chain and return him to the mortal
world where he belongs. If you refuse, then there
will be none to help him and soon there will be
nothing left of Edward Snow to return.
Charles closed his eyes for a moment, unable to
bear seeing the wolf's torture. Nocturna already
asked me to bend knee to her in exchange for a
glimpse of my dead son. I refused her. I will bend to none save Eli!
Eli? A gleaming blue-white coal flickered with
the impression of a brow sharply raised with
incredulity. Eli has done nothing for your
friends. Edward Snow believed in Eli and you see
where he is now. You and your wife believe in Eli
and yet your son is dead. Do you know how long
your wife prayed to Eli to save Ladero? From the
first day your son showed signs of illness until
the moment his flesh was sundered she prayed. Not
one of her prayers was answered. Not one of her
prayers was even heard. Eli! You swear to a being
who is not there for his followers. Your Eli did
not keep you from turning to stone. Your Eli did
not protect Edward Snow. Your Eli did not protect
Caroline Hardy from being raped even as Craig
Latoner was murdered. Your Eli did not protect
Jerome from the hands of Gmork who has turned him
into a beast. Your Eli did not protect the life
of your son, one innocent and not even six months
of age when his life was snatched away! Your Eli
did nothing to prevent these tragedies and offers
nothing to heal those pains. Your Eli did not
spare your child the chill of the Raven's altar to beget your quest!
But I will. Ba'al swept his arm at the window
and the image changed. Charles saw a dank chamber
of stone covered in slime and mold. In the center
of the chamber was a vaguely humanoid figure that
bore no clothes apart from badly torn trousers.
Along his back he had a stripe of black fur
running along his spine from neck to a short
tail. His legs were lupine in shape from haunches
to sharp-clawed paws that dug into the stone. His
arms were mostly human in shape apart from
patches of fur and another set of black claws.
Triangular ears covered in black fur rose from
either side of his head, and a red tongue dangled
between cleft lips and long fangs, but no other
beastly features obscured the face that the rat
recognized immediately. It was his friend and fellow Sondecki Jerome.
Behind Jerome lurked a shadowed figure that
seemed more beast than man. Golden eyes glimmered
from its wolf-like head, and its jaws moved as if
speaking. He heard no words but he could hear
Jerome whining like a beaten dog. The sound burned in his heart.
Jerome is no longer a physical captive to Gmork,
but his mind and his will are still enslaved. You
can do nothing to break the bond between them.
Your friends at Metamor can do nothing to break
that bond. But I can. Gmork is a creature of
Lilith, and I am lord of Lilith. If it is the
desire of my new disciple then I shall break the
chain binding Jerome to Gmork and I will restore
his humanity. Your Eli will do nothing. Why would
you serve a god who does nothing? You are a good
man, Sir Matthias. You are a reasonable man, Sir
Matthias. I know that you understand.
Ba'al swept his arm through the window and it
dimmed until only the boundary of the hollow was
visible. His other hand turned the
diamond-encrusted sword about. Its radiant edge
made the rat blink and stare. The lord of
daedra's voice seemed to swell and he could only
lean into the Åelf. You are a good man, Sir
Charles Matthias. You do not want to see those
you love suffer. You have hated every injustice
and every anguish you have experienced in your
journeys through our realms. If it is within your
power to act to save another, you act. And now,
it is within your power to bring rest to the
dead. It is within your power to rescue your
friends Edward and Jerome. How many others do you
know suffer that you wish to help? The moment
that you admit that you are my disciple all of this will be done.
You can become an avatar of light in my service
instead of the shade you are making yourself.
Together we will restore balance amongst aedra
and daedra. Harmony between us will bring harmony
in the mortal world. There is none whom you love
who you cannot save, Sir Matthias. Come, know
yourself as my disciple and all this will come to pass.
Charles swallowed and breathed a single word. No.
No? Ba'al spun the blade again and left it
spinning. It did not slow but remained spinning
as he had set it. No? Do you still seek to pass
Beyond? Do you understand what that means? He
half-turned and gestured to the blankness at the
bottom of the hollow. Charles flicked his gaze
there, and then back to the ground. Beyond is a
myth. There is nothing else but what you see
here. The mortal realm and the axis is all that
there is for your soul. Should you step Beyond,
you will step into a place from which you can never return.
I must go where my son is.
Ba'al's eyes lowered and he shook his head. That
is the one thing you cannot have. He was not
Lothanasi and so his soul is lost to us. You will
never have him back and anyone who says otherwise
is a liar. But, Ba'al lifted a single finger,
and a faint smile glimmered in the darkness of
his face, I can promise you that you will have
another child who is Sondecki. I can promise you
as many such children as you wish to have. But you cannot go Beyond.
No, Charles shook his head, his words firm with
conviction but as flat as the daedra's. I live,
you do not. I can pass Beyond, for the fire of
life burns within my breast. Only death claims
you, and death cannot travel Beyond. Squaring
his shoulders he raised his eyes from the blade
to look into the dark lord's simmering blue gaze.
I cannot abandon my son. No matter what you promise.
Ba'al put one hand on the sword hilt and it
stopped spinning so suddenly the world seemed to
tilt. In the flat of the blade Charles could see
a rat whose face, arms, legs, and most of his
chest were completely black with no variation so
that no contours could be glimpsed. Neither eyes
nor nose were distinguishable from the rest of
his face; only his mouth could be discerned. He looked away.
You have already abandoned your eldest to
Nocturna. Be my disciple, Sir Matthias, and I
will revoke her claim on your eldest child.
Rebuff me and you shall lose him as well.
He felt a stab in his heart and yearned to weep.
Could the daedra lord be speaking the truth?
Could there be any hope if that was true?
A warmth suffused him from the skin downward, and
in his mind he felt his master's thoughts fill
him. Your eldest is still yours. Nocturna cannot
fulfill her agreement and can make no claim on
your son. Beyond waits for you, and your youngest
waits for you there. Ba'al only cannot go Beyond.
You... you are evil. Good can never serve evil.
The fire of his conviction burned deeply, and an
energy bristled in all of his veins. He felt the
fur on his back stand on end and sizzle, and the
black of his skin began to glow like iron heated
in a forge. He stood taller, hands clenched so
tight that if not for the coating he would have
drawn blood from his palms. Never. Good does not
balance evil, it defeats it! And you are evil. I
can never serve you, no matter what you promise
me. I can never trust you, no matter how many
truths you use to hide your lies. I will not be
your disciple. I am not your disciple. I am sworn
already, Ba'al. I am sworn to Ya... He cast his
gaze upward at the Åelf and he smiled. I am sworn to Qan-af-årael!
Ba'al said nothing for a long moment. The
champion appeared to take no interest and seemed
just as likely to yawn as he was to grasp the
sword and strike them down. The realm and all in
it felt utterly still. And then the lord of the
daedra handed the blade back to his champion and
stepped to one side. Be on your way then. But
know one last thing. You have no idea what it is
you are doing, what it is you are saying, and
whom it is you serve. Should we meet again, you
will be utterly destroyed. Nothing but sorrow awaits you.
The air snapped with the boom of thunder and the
hollow was empty. Ba'al and his champion were
gone. Charles exhaled a long breath and looked
for them, but they were alone. He lifted his gaze
to the Åelf and smiled. We've done it.
Indeed, my Núrodur Nuruhuinë. We have endured the
hells. Come, Beyond awaits. The dangers we shall
face, and the opposition we shall encounter, will
be different but no less intense. United together
we shall reach your son. Do as I instruct at each step and it will be so.
I will master.
Then together let us leave this place.
Master and Núrodur stepped as one toward the
emptiness at the bottom of the hollow. The
emptiness stretched outward as they neared until
the hollow appeared as nothing more than a thin,
bleak corona. His heart burned with gratitude and
hope as they took the final step.
And then together they stepped into the world Beyond.
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May He bless you and keep you in His grace and love,
Charles Matthias
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