Underworld - Book 8 - Chapter 34

Aeris and I didn’t have time to tell Jasmine everything. The Head Mistress had summoned us. She was in good hands though. Queen Degima was there, and Nava had returned. They would fill in the blanks after our brief explanation.

We were led to a small meeting room. There was a long dark-wood table at the center of the room that sat about twenty people. To one side in the middle of the room was a large open mouth fireplace. It was like we were meeting in a medieval lodge conference room. It was warm in every way. The walls were covered with paintings. One made me do a double take. It was the portrait of the vampire I’d been sent to the Vampire Realm to retrieve.

Why had she wanted the picture of one of Lord Darius’s relatives? He had tried to kill her.

Lilith didn’t make us wait long. She arrived alone through another entrance, noticing where I was looking.

Her frown was a somber one. The openness she showed us was almost too much after our history.

“His end was a tragic one,” she began. “He was fair-minded—even gracious—and he extended it to everyone he met. We honor all Succubi allies. Even the foolish ones.”

She didn’t smile, but I saw it in her eyes.

“I’m pleased your friend survived,” Lilith said, walking over to stand in front of the fire. She waved us over. Her dress was an ankle length form fitting one that looked alive in the light of the flickering flames.

We both thanked her.

She didn’t sugarcoat things. “I’m sorry you won’t be able to spend much more time with her. Not unless you want to take her with you—a magicless dark elf that can’t defend herself. I’ll see to it that she makes it to Sanctuary safely with everything she needs to begin her new profession. Or many if she likes.”

Aeris looked stricken but didn’t say anything. We both knew why.

“Is it because of Lord Kress?” I asked.

“In part. If you remain here, it will require me to limit your freedom to guarantee your safety. Something that was inevitable, but I hoped we’d have a little more time.

“Master Muller and City Manager Virginie have explained to me what you were planning for the Fair using Spell Emulators and your Solar Orbs. It will have a big impact on the war effort. That’s why I’m taking over the controlling rights of your operation.”

My expression darkened. I’d thrown most of my wealth into this project. It was time sensitive, so I understood why it might be necessary, but Master Muller was more than capable in our absence.

She saw my reaction and playfully rolled her eyes. “Of course, I’ll be rewarding you, and Master Muller will remain in your harem. He’s an odd one, but he’s also the pillar that will allow your harem to stand in your absence. I recommend you have Jasmine seek out his advice and training for her future professions. Here.”

A small chest appeared in her hand. It was finely crafted, almost like a jewelry box, but it wasn’t especially eye catching. She said, “This will fit nicely in your Master Ring and not be easy to find if someone takes it from you for a time. It’s a spatial container that doubles as a physical container. Inside it is your reward, but also something extra in case the allies you seek need convincing.”

She placed it in my outstretched palm. Aeris undid the physical latch and lifted its lid. What we saw wasn’t expected. It was filled to the brim with small light mana crystals. They looked like quartz but were more uniform in their round, crystalline shape.

We looked to Lilith who said, “There are many forms of currency. Dark mana rich orbs and materials are common amongst the dark magic races, but they don’t have the same benefit to the light magic races. This is a type of crystal commonly excavated with similar properties as dark coins. They are used in trade but aren’t processed into currency. Now, take a look inside.”

 She meant into the items inventory space. So we inserted our perceptions and… The space wasn’t large. About the room of a normal bank vault. It was lined with shelves all around. Stacked upon there were the cylindrical coin wallets I’d first encountered in the Vampire Realm. Each shelf held hundreds, and there were dozens of shelves. They weren’t all dark coins either. The room seemed split evenly between dark and light coins, except there was one set of shelves filled with neutral mana coins. It looked like we’d found Perry’s coin collection.

If that was all, it was already too much, but to the left, the dark magic side of the room, there were two bins that took up most of the walking space. They were on wheels, so they could be moved. Inside each, filled past the brim, were nothing but Grandmaster Dark Orbs. The bin came up to my waist. The grandmaster orbs were only the size of a marble, so there had to be thousands of them. Tens of thousands.

On the right side, there were also two bins. Neither one was full, but I found one held a few thousand grandmaster light orbs of the general variety, and the other held more of the light magic crystals. Aeris and my perceptions touched inside the magic storage space. She was feeling what I was. It was overwhelming. This kind of wealth isn’t just given away without chains attached.

Removing my perceptions, I found the Head Mistress staring off into the fire.

She spoke without turning to face us. “There are 200 million coins split evenly between dark and light with a few exceptions. Be sure to research the currency before using it. Some are worth more than others. There are 300 million grandmaster dark orbs, 10,000 grandmaster light orbs, and twice that in light crystals.”

If I had spent the time making orbs, reaching a net worth of a trillion dark coins wasn’t unreasonable. It would’ve just taken time. But what sat in this chest’s inventory space was hundreds to trillions, if not more.

“What would you have us do with it?” I asked.

Lilith gave me a thoughtful look. “You intended on supporting your harem, yes? Your friends. On building up Sanctuary? This is your chance.”

“But it’s so much,” Aeris replied.

With a sigh, the succubus that stole us from the surface turned and cupped my wife’s face. “You’re underestimating what your husband’s solar orbs are worth. He’s one of the only sources of completely pure solar orbs in the Underworld. To provide thousands of grandmaster solar orbs, and the Industrial Spell Emulators already programed with his unique version of Core Creation…  I have everything I need to create them in mass. If it wasn’t for war, I would’ve made back this amount of wealth in a few years. But there’s more.

“I haven’t made it easy on you and things aren’t going to get easier. The most critical change coming is that I won’t be able to keep an eye on you as I once did. Once you leave the Succubi Realm, you’ll be on your own. My support has mostly been passive and from a distance. Not this time. You have little more than a day to get your affairs in order. You will leave with the beastfeeder Erryl Family. We have a way of smuggling them into the Vampire Realm so that they’ll have fair odds of making it to a Tir Family residence.”

Aeris was shaking her head. “What about Sergeant Valls men? Shouldn’t we wait until the ambassador’s party gets here so that they can see them before we leave?”

Lilith gave her a sad smile. “If it were just Lord Kress and his assassins we had to worry about, then allowing you to stay here longer wouldn’t be as problematic. It’s the fact that the ambassador is coming, and that they’ll want to bargain to have you join them that changes things. They’ll seek to control you. Waiting even a day might be too much. If this ambassador is as powerful as I suspect, then she could be here in a matter of hours, not days if she was of the mind to. Thankfully, the Illuminated Cathedral is still keeping to the shadows, but it seems that’s about to change.

“What I’m offering is a means to escape their control, and mine. Mystarius is seeking allies among the vampires, but you can do something he can’t. Go to the Tir Family and the acquaintances you met while in Hallow. That’s a good place to start, but I’d request that you also go where we can’t. Visit the light magic races of the east and seek their alliance.”

That didn’t just mean visiting the dark elves, but the many elven kingdoms, the dwarves, even the halfling, gnome, and fae. My mind turned to what she said about the Illuminated Cathedral. If I was honest, there was a part of me that wanted to join them. Lilith was right. Her idea of supporting us up until now was to throw us into crazy situations and letting us stumble around. We were lucky to survive many of them, but she had saved us. She’d obviously been watching during our five with Nava, and had known Travis was still alive. It was chaotic at best. She allowed us to make mistakes and find a way through them. They were the consequence of freedom. Joining the Cathedral would allow us to shift much of the responsibility onto them. We’d become soldiers who took orders.

Is that what we wanted? I asked Aeris as much through mind-speak.

“If we join them, what happens to the others?” she asked. “All that talk about keeping Sanctuary independent. We either support them or we don’t.”

I kissed her on the forehead. There was another question I didn’t share. One that was even more consequential. Were we going to gain allies, build an army for the succubi, or was it an army of my own?

Glancing back, I gave Shamash a long look. Like a good fake butler, he was waiting silently at the door.

His response was a human one. Narrowing his eyes, he gave me the slightest of nods.

I wasn’t looking for his approval for I’d already decided. As much as I pitied the succubi, I wasn’t going to raise an army for them even if I had every intention of helping them right historic wrongs. Putting our faith in the succubi or the Illuminated Cathedral wasn’t an option. Especially after what had happened to Jasmine. The lich had been right. Our hands would be forced whether we liked it or not. But I wouldn’t be dragged kicking and screaming.

If I wanted a world where what happened to Jasmine never happened again, then there was only one option. So I asked what not even Lilith was willing to offer. “Remove our siphoning chains. Just Aeris’s and mine. If we are to go before some of the most powerful people in the Underworld, they need to see that we aren’t under any false compulsion.”

“Elorion,” Shamash warned.

The beginnings of a snarl came over Lilith’s face, but it was gone in an instant. She was actually considering it.

I continued to push. “If you protect and support our friends in our absence, what incentive do we have to not return? And it’s not just for them. Despite what you’ve done to us against our will, we want to help you.”

She was obviously not happy, but she just studied me for the longest time. Finally she responded, “Under one condition. Take Sister Nava with you and offer her the same support and protection I’m giving to your friends.”

Aeris and I shared a confused look. “She’s already coming with us, isn’t she?” I asked.

“Yes, but I’m not asking for you to just accept her presence while traveling with you. Protect her as if she were one of your own. She is powerful in her own right but still has a lot of growing to do and to learn. There are situations you can survive, potential enemies you can appease.”

She reached out and grabbed us both by the shoulder. “Come, there’s something you should see. Change into your human and sprite forms.”

Spinning, she began to cast. A small portal appeared on the other side of the room that she didn’t hesitate to enter.

Grabbing ahold of Aeris’s hand, we did as she asked and followed only to arrive in what looked like a small cavern town. The rock ceiling was only about a quarter mile high. It was covered in off white glowing crystals, casting a gentle light over the area. There were about fifty cabins made of some type of red-brown wood. Simply dressed people were moving about as if doing their daily chores.

I noticed that something was wrong with them almost immediately. There was very little mana inside them. It was like they had some mana because of the environment that they were in but no natural concentration of it in their bodies.

  We heard Lilith speak in our minds where only we could hear. “Unlike your friend Jasmine who had her mana forcibly purged with her vampirism, this is what happens when humans, elves, or half elves are found to not have any magical talent—not even with professions. They can still learn and practice professions, but their life in the Underworld is a difficult one. Most vampires and succubi wouldn’t even bother draining them, let alone put the work into training them. Their only practical use is to be given to low level imps to kill for the experience, or to leave alone to fend for themselves. Their lack of talent is extremely rare. This is an oasis I built for the ones discovered in the Succubi Realm over the last couple hundred years.”

The Head Mistress walked at a moderate pace, only to wave at a passing middle-aged woman.

“Hello, Lily,” the woman greeted while pushing a cart.

“Hello, Merideth,” Lilith replied.

“They are aware of their predicament and know I’m a magic user, but they don’t know my identity. I’d appreciate it if you keep my secret.”

We agreed, then she turned the conversation back to Nava.

“You know she’s different than most succubi, but you don’t know how different.”

She continued to return the greetings of everyone we passed. Most of the people there were either human or half-elves. Although, there were a few elves. They all shared the same lack of talent.

We traveled from one side of the small village to the other only to stop in front of one of the buildings.

“On the other side of this door you will meet Nava’s father. He doesn’t know of her existence, and she doesn’t know of his. It must remain that way for both of their sakes. This is a secret that only a few of the Matriarchs know. It must remain this way, for now.”

Once again, she had us promise her. It would endanger them both if the wrong people found out. Reluctantly, we did.

She knocked on the door twice, then gave it a series of taps with her nails. She opened the door after and waved for us to follow.

It opened to a one room living space with a loft. The kitchen was to our immediate right, with a fireplace near the center of the room and a dining table on the far side. The very human man was on the far side of the room near just left of the dining area. There was a workbench he was sitting at while tinkering with something.

With the opening of the door, he inclined his head and glanced behind him. There was soot all over his cheeks, and he wore spectacles that I assumed were for eye protection. When seeing who had arrived, he pulled himself up and stretched. His grin was almost hidden beneath his well-manicured beard.

“This is a pleasant surprise. You brought guests? The girls are working but should be back in a few hours. Will you be able to stay, or should I go and fetch them?”

Lilith hadn’t been shy when entering the home, and even crossed the floor to—

As soon as she reached the man, he leaned forward and kissed her on the mouth.

She pulled away halfheartedly as he did only to say, “You need to wash your face.”

He grinned mischievously.

Aeris and I looked on slack-jawed. Either Nava’s father was the type to fraternize with succubi, or there was something very deviant going on he was unaware of. The implication was almost unbelievable. Not only was this talentless man Nava’s father, but did that mean Lilith was…