Shadow of the Abyss

Before the hawk-like eyes of Gideon Thrib, bearing down like an unfathomable mountain, Raven showed no weakness. Despite how poised his eyes remained, he was sizing her up—that she knew.

There were a few in Vastroph who didn't know the name Gideon Thrib. He was an Outerworlder. A foreigner who had been thrown onto a battlefield before he had awakened. He was a tall, stone face that seemed as cold as the golden breastplate he wore.

It hadn't been like that, or so the stories went. Many had proclaimed that Gideon had been a scrawny little shit with bearly enough strength to pick up a dagger when he first arrived. A lie, no doubt, but Altair never thought so. He had marked Gideon as a man to befriend or manipulate from afar. A rare sort of praise she had ever heard from her Master's lips.

They stood in the parlor in a deafening silence that did little to deter Tasha's seductive smile, which never seemed to wane, no matter the situation.

"You must forgive; it would seem that our master will not be able to attend his Majesty's Banquet." she started, undeterred by the lack of expression of Gideon Thrib, pivoting his focus to her. "Our Master broke through twice and managed to slightly injure himself."

Sir Armeth sneered. "As if that is reason enough not to attend."

"It will have to be reason enough," Tasha pressed without batting an eye. The depths of scarlet in those infernal eyes of hers began to kindle with something otherworldly. It was subtle but enough for a Transcendent to noticeably tense.

Gideon's reaction was subtle and measured, but Armeth appeared to practically reach for his sword before he caught himself. "Girl!" He roared, "This is not a game. You will fetch your Master, or we'll have your head."

Raven had heard enough, opening her mouth to speak when shards of death prickled her flesh as she fell to her knees, bound to the earth like a mouse, trembling before something incomprehensible. She could feel it. She could feel the hands of death. The will of something beyond her mortal mind. Of something beyond the Heavens. When she blinked, Raven realized it was not her on her knees squirming away, but Gideon and Armeth.

"Your eminence," Tasha said, kowtowing.

Lightheaded, Raven spun, nearly stumbling at the man with ashen-colored hair and eyes so red they made Tasha's sinful ones seem like toys for children. He was beautiful, with such an uncanny likeness to Altair, she muttered his name.

"Arsene Snow," She corrected herself, soon lowering her head into a bow as Arsene acknowledged her with a half smile.

Arsene grinned, glancing at Raven, crying tears of blood into her palm before offering it to him. He blinked before a roar of laughter followed. "Infernal Traditions… I swear they're all ridiculous." he shook his head and proceeded to ignore her. "I wasn't planning on getting involved, but he did something interesting again. Quite the Master you have."

Unconsciously, Raven tilted her head high, proud to hear such praise. She didn't know much about the Second Infernal Monarch, but even the smallest praise from someone who could covert such a title in Hell must not often dish out such praise. Her Master must certainly be special.

"T-Thank you."

"We'll speak no more of it. The other Monarchs are probably already mocking me." Arsene said, looking up with a mirthless smile, then towards the two royal guards on their knees, bleeding from every orifice. "How I miss the days I could journey about like Altair. Perhaps I might create a body without memories and send it out to experience life. That seems like fun. What do you think?"

Raven pointed at herself when he glanced at her. "Me? You're talking to me?

Arsene chuckled. "I'm just throwing out ideas… Lord knows how I detest work." he sighed. "Anyway, it's probably not a good idea. At least not in this current climate. Looks like the Adventures of Arsene will have to be placed on hold."

"..." Raven blinked, wondering how such a man ever became a monarch of hell. He didn't seem to carry that degree of arrogance that predated ones title; he seemed almost normal, talking about a Nine to Five job. He was normal.

"Yeah… It's probably a bad time. Anyway, little Art will be fine. I checked it out myself and offered a bit of my Breath to him."

"Breath?"

Arsene hummed in acknowledgment. "Think of it as the first source of all life. It's an integral power that all living creatures carry. Strangely enough, you don't seem to possess any sort of Breath of Life." His grin seemed to remind her that the man before him truly was a monarch of hell. She trembled beneath it. " Well, it's of no matter. The boy is fine, and I'm smashing two… Never mind what I'm doing. Protect my son. Got it?"

And he was gone before she could open her mouth to speak, muttering something of 'Booty being more important than…' before he was gone.

"What a strange man," Raven said before she felt someone bonk her on the head. She blinked, suddenly turning to glare at Tasha for mortally wounding her.
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"You must never address an infernal Monarch in such a way!" she said, clutching her chest. "Hells! The Second Monarch is even scarier than I have heard! No way he's the weakest Infernal Monarch on the Throne."

If Raven hadn't heard it from Tasha, she might have laughed. "Surely you jest! He is our Master's Father. How could he be weak?"

Tasha shook her head, "You don't understand how young the Second Monarch is compared to the others. He's not even a single Hell Cycle old yet." slowly, she tipped her eyes towards the two Guards, oozing tears of blood, muttering something incomprehensible beneath their breath. "Even Transcendents are being turned to water beneath his presence. That isn't normal."

"They are just weak-minded," Raven remarked, frowning when she remembered how his words nearly swallowed her into despair and her lips pressed tightly together.

"Maybe," was all Tasha said on the matter, letting it go. "We'll have to send them back in a carriage."

"We should just kill them. They've heard too much."

Tasha licked her supple lips, narrowing her scarlet eyes. "No need. His Infernal Majesty is a being too big for them to comprehend. They'll lose all memory of this event in a few hours. Of course, not before his very nature torments them. They'll probably never sleep again. The weaker one, Armeth, might just kill himself."

That came as a surprise to Raven. She had not thought someone's mere presence could do such a thing. It was something of a wonder to realize how ignorant she had been. Still, one question rattled through her mind: How was she still sane then?

She had not thought Arsene might have hidden his presence from her. That would have been to beneath him. After all, Arsene Snow was a God of Wrath and Pride. There were simply things he would not do.

Studying the royal knights with a growing headache, Raven summoned a few Forsaken before sending them off to escort the Knights back to the Royal Palace.

Afterward, as Raven pushed open the door to her Master's chamber, she froze, overwhelmed by the life energy oozing from out of Altair. It was as if he had eaten a fruit from the Great World Tree to gain eternal life.

Emerald motes of light danced around the young man's face, threading across his being into his pores. Each time breaths of air left his lips, that strange essence followed, slowly falling back into his pores.

"What is this?"

"The breath of creation," said Medusa grimly, " the single spark of all life itself. In a way, you can say it's the origin of Life and Death." she frowned gently, placing a palm over Altair's forehead. "Arsene said that Altair was nearly out of Breath and that he was running on fumes." Her eyes narrowed, " he even said that it almost seems like he's rejecting the source of all life."

Raven blinked, recalling Arsene words, 'Strangely enough, you don't seem to possess any sort of Breath of Life.' she took a step closer and frowned as the Breath around Altair became erratic, jolting about as if to escape. Startled, she retreated a step, watching as the Breath of Life returned to a calming state of being.

"I cannot be near Master?" Raven had to ask, taken back by the cracks in her voice.

"You are a true creature of the Vale," Medusa said.

"You are not truly alive, at least… not in the way the Myriad Heavens decreed," Tasha uttered, taking a slow, steady step closer to Arsene's bedside. She sighed when the motes of life continued, ignoring her existence. "So infernal creatures don't affect this… Breath?"

If that wasn't a kick to the face, Raven didn't know what was. She grimaced, "Medusa, can you sense to see how much Breath I—"

"I'm afraid I don't have such a skill. Child, that power is not something even the strongest of Gods randomly have. Let alone possessing the ability to sense the Breath of life, no one outside Arsene Snow has ever been able to manipulate it as he did just now."

Despair lanced across Raven's eyes as she bit her lips, "I…I see. Then I shall protect Master from a distance.