Greed God chapter 235

April 15th 2016 New Jersey, Rosewood, 8:00 PM EDT

"The  butler did it." Barbie groaned. "Because of course he did. Nicky, I  don't suppose you have any more tricks like that candle up your sleeve.  Not that I'm excited about possibly ending up in alternate dimension for  several months. Again." I was amused to note that my redhead, who  usually deferred to me and Amy, had switched to crime fighter mode and  taken charge of the situation.

I  shook my head. "Nope. Nothing like that. I could probably throw  something together, but given the level of power in the rock I'm betting  it would need to be stronger than I can currently manage." I grimaced  at my own ineptitude. "I also didn't get a chance to check out Hobbes  before he vanished, so I have no clue how strong he actually is. Sadly,  that fucking rock was way too powerful for me to get a decent idea of  what it did beyond 'EVIL'." I turned to Amy, who was staring at the spor  Hobbes had vanished from in pale faced terror. "Luckily, it seems like  we have an expert on hand. Ames, what was that?"

She  stared in horror at the empty space on the floor, and I had to snap my  fingers in her face to get her attention. "What?" She said shakily. She  seemed like she might be in shock or something. "Oh. The stone. It...it  was the Heart of Darkness." That last part she whispered like some kind  of dark curse.

Barbie put a hand on her shoulder. "Yes, sweetie. We know. But we need to know what that means."

"It  means we're in deep shit." Came a gruff voice from behind us. Alan  Scott, his daughter in tow, was standing next to us. When Hobbes had  vanished, everyone had scattered away from where he'd been, most of us  into groups. Alan and Jenny had retreated about ten feet from us, but  they were right up in our faces now.

That  got a nod from my redhead. "I got that much." She stuck out a hand.  "Barbara Gordon. My dad has mentioned you a time or two. I know you met  the few times you were in Gotham. He has nothing but good things to say  about you." I imagined the same was true of Batman, but mentioning him  here would be a mistake.

Scott  smiled wryly. "Little Jimmy Gordon's girl, all grown up and knocking  boots with Max Lord's son. This world of ours can be so absurd at  times." At her surprise he rolled his eyes. "Please, he brings you along  with his wife and you're as clingy as you've been? No chance you two  aren't shacking up. Not that it stopped him from eyeing up my daughter."

Jenny shrieked. "Daddy!" In a mortified voice, and Scott just rolled his eyes.

"You're  a grown ass woman Jennifer." He said in annoyance. "If you wanted to  give the boy a show it's not my business, but don't treat me like a  senile old man. No one leans forward that much unless they're doing it  on purpose." Her cheeks flushed a darker green. "Anyway, like I said,  the Heart of Darkness is a big problem. The damn thing was mine on  Apokalips before recorded history. Jumped around plenty, but eventually  became the vessel for a really nasty demon."

"No."  Said Amy. "It didn't." We all looked at her quizically. "There is no  demon in that stone. There's something worse." Her voice was shaky, the  most afraid I'd ever heard it, and her eyes never left the spot where  Hobbes had been.

Scott  looked unimpressed. "Care to elaborate, young lady? Sounds like you  know the most about what's going on. We fought Eclipso a time or ten,  but we never learned much about his origin. The stone's origin, sure,  but Eclipso himself has always been a mystery. Demon was just our best  guess, and a title he claimed more than once."

She  chuckled nervously. "I suppose he would. It's...an old story. Amethyst  family legend. My mother told it to me when I was chosen to inherit the  crown. Along with a few other cautionary tales. A story about a being, a  King ranked noble from centuries, even millennia ago."

Barbie  grabbed her hand, and I helped them pull up a chair so Amy could sit.  My wife looked shaken as fuck, and considering she could fight me before  I ranked up, that wasn't comforting. Once she was seated, she let out a  shaky breath, and began to tell her story.

"A  long time ago, back when Gemworld was more than what it is now, a child  was born. His mother was from the royal house of Diamond, and his  father was the Lord of house Onyx. Both of them were terrifying  warriors, powers in their houses, and their baby wasn't much different."

Her  eyes lost focus, seeming to be drifting into the past. "The baby's name  was Kaala, and he was a powerful warrior. From childhood, his abilities  were obvious, having inherited magic from both parents, and being  capable of wielding it proficiently even as a child. Kaala was clever,  and brave, and focused, and his parents adored him, hailing him as the  link that would unite their houses, something that had never been done  in the history of Gemworld."

She  swallowed hard, pausing to look around, eyes finally moving, but not  stopping on any one thing, like she expected something to jump out at  her. When she was done making sure she was safe, she pushed on. "But  Kaala wasn't the messiah they thought he was. He was strong, and smart.  and fearless, but he was also...wrong. He adored causing pain, suffering  made him gleeful, and it was eventually discovered that he had a taste  for blood even outside the battlefield."

"Around  this time." She continued woodenly. "A murderer was stalking the  capital of House Onyx. Kaala was a prince, a savior, and no one  suspected him. Not until it was too late. You see, the merging of his  bloodlines had produced a new power. A new connection. A Black Diamond  bloodline. Kaala had discovered a stone when he was young, a black  diamond, and realized that by using it to harvest the magic of others of  either bloodline, he could make himself stronger."

Freezing,  she took a ragged breath, terrified to continue, but forced herself to  go on. "By the time the realized what he was, he was too strong. His  parents confronted them, and he murdered them both, harvesting their  power and adding it to his stockpile. He became a monster. The strongest  noble anyone had ever heard of in Gemworld."

A  rank, I was pretty sure, based on the stone. probably high A rank at  that. "What happened next?" Pressed Jenny. She flushed. "I mean, it  sounds like he didn't take over the world or whatever, since the story  needed to be passed down. How did you all beat him?"

"My  ancestor." Said my wife, a small hint of pride in her voice. "Queen  Chandra of Amethyst. She pulled him through a portal, she was hoping to  sever his connection to some of his power by removing him from his  family's ancestral lands. There were spells to enhance the power of  whichever bloodline laid on the territories. To get him through the  portal, she used a forbidden blood ritual to burn her life force so she  could bind him to the stone for eternity. She dragged the Heart through  the portal...and neither were ever seen again."

"Except  they were." Said Scott. "I have a decent guess where that portal went  too. Considering the reason we assumed Eclipso was a demon was that we  identified that the Heart of Darkness spent several centuries in Hell.  We assumed it landed there directly from Apokalips, but it seems like  that wasn't the case. The Black Room had it for a while, but A.R.G.U.S  is functionally incapable of not fucking up anything they touch, so they  lost it."

Which  left us...where. I had to assume that Hobbes was still in command of  the body, otherwise he'd fucking murder us all and leave instead of  deciding to play some kind of ridiculous game with us. Which implied  that Eclipso, or Kaala, or whatever, wasn't running things. If the usual  rules applied that would make Hobbes C rank, maybe B rank at the high  end. Which was...not great, but not insurmountable assuming there was  some way to beat Eclipso.

It  sounded like Scott had managed a few times, and if he could do it I was  pretty sure I could do it. "So." I said cautiously. "Since you said  you've beaten Eclipso before, can you tell me how? Also why is he  working with Hobbes at all? Because he doesn't sound like a team  player."

"Corruption."  Said Scott in disgust. "Eclipso prefers to set a foundation in his meat  suits. He cajoles them, tempts them, and then spends the time they use  up reveling in his power to put down roots. By the time they realize  they're being possessed it's already too late. As for stopping  him...depends. We need light magic, or at least light energy, and we  need to apply it a certain way. I wish Sylvester Pemberton had been  invited to this mess. Though I guess even if he was the butler would  have taken him off the list. Stupid to bring the cosmic rod here."

Maybe  it would have been, but there were other sources of light magic. Like  me. I was a Dragon of the Primordial Spark. Powerful light magic and  energy was my entire wheelhouse. Life, healing, energy, destruction. My  powers were an evolution of my original bloodline, but better. "I can  figure something out. There are lots of hidden things in this house. But  I need to know what I have to do."

I  didn't mention my powers or the system, I didn't trust Scott even if  his daughters jiggly green jugs were basically hypnosis machines. He  scowled, then looked around. "Not here. We need to find somewhere  private, then I can ward the room to prevent eavesdropping." I nodded,  and he turned and strode toward the door.

Looking  at Jenny I saw her looking surprisingly calm. I raised an eyebrow and  she grinned at me. "What? You were expecting the poor helpless model to  be afraid? Hate to break it to you big man, but I'm more than just a  pillowy ass and a flawless walk. I've been in situations like this  before." She winked at me. "Stick with me handsome, and I'll make sure  you get through this safe."

I  grinned at her and gestured to the door. "Well then go ahead." At her  confused look I just winked. "I need to make sure you aren't just  bragging. Gotta check those references. Move that pillowy ass." Having  the flirting to focus on helped a bit, kept me centered, and Jenny  clearly didn't mind, though she did look at my girls to see if they  objected. Barbie was biting her lip waiting for that model strut, and  Amy was too shaken to really give a shit, so the green girl shrugged and  turned to strut off after her dad.

Watching  her go for a minute, I turned and put a hand on Amy's shoulder, shaking  her out of her fugue. "Hey." I said to my wife. "You ok? You know I  won't let him hurt you right?" I grinned at her rakishly. "No one messes  with my stuff. I'm a jealous dragon, and I guard my treasures  fiercely."

She  swallowed hard, but tried to give me a smile. "Of course. I trust you  Nicky. I believe this will all be ok." She smirked at me devilishly.  "After all, you've never had sex with a green supermodel before. No way  you'd let us die before you have the chance to try out that 'pillowy  ass'." I snorted and rolled my eyes but turned my gaze back to that flexing green booty. Ok, I had to admit. That did add motivation.