Nekros looked around the frozen wasteland around him, and sighed, a very contented, bored sigh.
"Hyoite. How of the snowmen, where a colour other than white is terrible." The Ghost gryphon was bored as hell, having been floating effortlessly and tirelessly for what seemed like forever. He had seen some half decent stuff, but now his trip home to the Gryphon colony was gonna be boring as hell.
"Some one save me from this nightmare? Please? I would wish for my death, but I am stuck in immortality." The Gryphon was hoping to see another ghost. Hopefully.
He wandered the snow, his phantom form blending with the snow. He altered his appearance somewhat, making himself turn black against the snow.
It was rare that Hyoite had visitors. Being in the middle of a frozen wasteland, it wasn't exactly easy to get to, nor was it very appealing. However, this "visitor" wasn't actually a visitor. He had grown up in the small tundra village, and now he was returning for a rare visit to his family, or rather, his mortal family.
Jy'aad was a demigod, born to a mortal father, and the Goddess of Death. While he spent a great deal of time with his mother in the underworld, prince over the realms of the dead, he also enjoyed staying with his mortal family; his father and step-mother.
Trekking through the frozen wasteland on his way home, the demigod in the black cloak looked like a flea on a white dog in this vast, ice-stricken expanse. He wasn't very cold, or rather, he didn't flee the cold. On it's own, his pitch black fur would keep him warm, being of the Sionhai race; a minority race of fox people in Le'raana, but still a present race nonetheless.
As he continued his trek home, the demigod spotted something, his violet eyes locking onto a distant shape. Although he did wish to get home, Jy'aad couldn't help but wonder what the distant shape was. So, he went to investigate, keeping his scythes close by in case things turned ugly.
Nekros felt the presence of life nearby, a rare occurrence for this wasteland. He could sense a Shadow Demon not too far off, but that was going the other way. He figured it must have been feral, stupid, or damned insane to be here.
"Anyone there?" Nekros called out to the Sionhai man, as he could see him.
"Show yourself, lest I possess you and haunt you!" He loved that threat.
A ghost, eh? was Jy'aad's thought. Ghosts were amusement for him. Most, like this one just did, would threaten him with haunting and possession, only to find that he is the son of Death herself. That usually brought him some entertainment. Another way was threatening to devour the wandering soul, a power, although it is one he inherited from his mother, he rarely uses, unless the ghost in question is just being a nuisance.
"I suggest you take that back, ghost. You've no idea who you're talking to" he said, with grim laughter. He would be amused by this wandering soul, whether the ghost knew it or not.
Nekros heard the voice carry across the tundra, and heard the deathly chime. He was speaking to a death demigod. Wonderful. Not.
"A prince of death? Wonderful... You'll be glad to know that as much as I wish I could go to one of your realms, I can't. And I can sense that soul crushing ability. It won't work on me. I am bound to this world eternally. Nothing can break my curse."
Jy'aad was a bit surprised that the ghost recognized him, but then again, his voice did have a bit of a deathly tone to it, not much, but it was there. Walking closer to the ghost, he pondered the information. Indeed, he couldn't crush the damned soul, but he could, assuming the ghost wasn't bound to any particular lord or demon, make the soul his servant, but he rejected the idea, because if he couldn't destroy the poor sod, then he was most likely bound to this earth by some demon prince he'd have to kill later.
"Really? A curse that can't be broken? Are you sure about that, or are you being a damned liar?" He said, his black robe waving in the slight breeze. From under the long black hood he wore, Jy'aad's violet eyes glowed slightly....
"Yes, unbreakable. As in, when the gods decide that time should end, I will still float about in the void, stuck." Nekros made it clear that no matter what happened he would be stuck here.
"Unless you can un-crush a demon lord's soul? And steal a man who I need to kill from a demon prince." Nekros took a rather solemn tone. No god or demon could end this curse. Nothing.
Jy'aad's grim laughter returned. Stealing a man from a demon prince's realm? Un-crushing a demon's soul? It was like asking him to stroll down to the market and buy the thunder god's master bolt!
"Foolish ghost, I can't help you with that. I may be the son of Death, but not even my mother can bring back a soul once it is crushed." He said, his laughter echoing for a good distance. He knew the shadow demon was there, but he wasn't worried.
"Precisely. Come back with your all encompassing, omnipotent attitude when you can do that. Then I will be impressed." Nekros was already getting annoyed with this kid. He hated the kids guts.
Jy'aad could tell the ghost was getting annoyed. It was a strange predicament, his life. He had to live in two worlds, both literally, and metaphorically. In the mortal world, he was insignificant, and considered a commoner; in the underworld, he was hailed as a prince. While he had grown accustomed to both ways of living, and could switch between both whenever he chose, he had a very bad habit of carrying over the royal, all-mighty attitude the first few days he of his return to the over world.
Regardless, his flickered again with a strange violet flame, a sign that either he was annoyed, or was getting angry. In this case, it was both, as this ghost went to the lengths of insulting him. However, he probably deserved it, as he was using this ghost for his amusement.
He was going to say something else, but then he felt another presence, a very powerful, demonic presence. Much stronger than the shadow demon he had felt earlier. No, this was a demon prince....
Kirnardaz hated this damn wasteland but Skalos had gotten lost in it. Now Kirnardaz had to search for him.
"SKALOS??!! WHERE ARE YOU, YOU IDIOT?! IF I EVER FIND YOU I WILL CRUSH YOUR SOUL YOU WRETCH!!" Kirnardaz's voice boomed across the tundra, as he looked for the demon.
Nekros froze upon hearing it.
"Lovely. A Demon Prince. Have fun."
When Jy'aad heard the voice, he knew immediately who it was.
"Kirnardaz... What's the damned bastard doing here?" He muttered, slightly annoyed with the appearance of the demon prince. He was already delayed by chatting with this ghost, now he had another mess to mop up. At this rate, he'd wouldn't make it Hyoite until midnight!
Keeping his scythes close, the demigod of death walked over to the demon prince. With his black robes and hood, combined with his pitch black fur and violet eyes, he looked almost like a spectre, a creature of death looming towards the hellish prince.
Kirnardaz felt the presence of the Death Prince, but pretended to examine the tundra, looking for Skalos. He genuinely did look for Skalos, but he knew roughly where the demigod sionhai was.
"That's close enough Demigod. I don't think you want to be doing that." Kirnardaz turned to see the black ghost and the Demigod.
"What do you want, worm..."
Jy'aad smiled at the demon lord's remark. He'd been called much worse things, so being called 'worm' didn't bother him, rather, it humored him slightly. He stopped a few meters in front of the demon, his heavy boots crunching the snow beneath them.
"I've killed several of your kinsmen, prince." He said, his voice taking on a chilling tone that matched the frozen wasteland around them. "I know I can't kill you, so Im not even going to try. In fact, Im just going to leave, and continue on my way" he continued, turning to leave. He was running late, anyway, and needed to get to town before sun down.
Kirnardaz took a look inside Jy'aad's head, rooting around for what he was in such a rush for.
"What are you hiding from me? Looking for Myria?" Kirnardaz found the name an instinctual calling, and grinned.
"I'm going to go, you two are a waste of my endless amounts of time." With that, Nekros began to float off, finding that there was no fun in watching the demon prince and demigod prince interact.
When the demon prince mentioned Myria's name, there was only an after image where Jy'aad was standing. The demigod rushed forward at a speed no mortal could ever hope to achieve, his large scythe, the Hades, drawn. Igniting the cursed weapon with the strange violet flames that were his trademark, he unleashed a storm of slashes, the blade spinning around and around as he did.
Kirnardaz took the blows, which ripped his armour open and cut deep in his flesh, and stood there smiling. It hurt a damn lot, but the sickened, twisted mind of Kirnardaz liked it.
"You have no power over me. Only my children can kill me, and I don't have any, not anymore. Eleni is not in Nosferti's afterlife either. Her soul roams in my realm, me having created her a small paradise. Eleni cannot touch me, I wiped her memory to avoid my own death. I am immortal. I will take these blows hundreds of years from now, and you will be nothing but dust in a coffin. As will Myria." This Myria seemed to be of significant importance to Jy'aad.
Nekros had left, and encountered Skalos not a minutes walk in another direction. He led Skalos out of the tundra and let him go.
Jy'aad, seeing the demon was liking this torture, stopped his assault. Feeling this demon was just toying with him, he banished the large scythe, his pair of smaller weapons appearing at his sides.
Then, he started laughing.
"You really think my mother has no power over you just because you wiped your daughter's memory? She'll find a way to end you, whether it be this era, or the next era, or even the end of time, she will end you." He said as he summoned a skeletal horse. He needed to get to Hyoite, and this demon prince was not helping.
"I'd like to see her try." Kirnardaz made a mental note to crush Eleni's soul. The idea didn't appeal to him, but she had died, so she needed to be crushed.
"Myria's soul had a lot of power in it. I'm glad I crushed it." Kirnardaz was trying to aggravate the boy into a rage. Kirnardaz had only found the name plastered everywhere in Jy'aad's mind, and had no idea how much the boy cared for the name.
"But she screamed when I let Skalos at her, hahhahhah..."
Jy'aad laughed at the demon lord's statement. Being the son of death, he could feel when a loved one such as friend or family had passed away and entered the underworld. Myria wasn't dead. He would've felt it.
Although, the fact that the demon lord had lied in an attempt to anger him was disturbing. Either this demon had met Myria, or Jy'aad's mind was being read. Either way, he turned the pair of scythes into a deathly bow, it's black limbs embedded with bronze, it's handle made of solid ebony wood.
Drawing the string back, he conjured an arrow right where it was supposed to be, and let out a warning.
"Shut your mouth, Kirnardaz! You really don't want to piss me off!"
"Ooooh, look, I have enough energy to summon Skalos. He can validate my claim." Kirnardaz snapped his fingers and a black octogram (Eight pointed pentagram) appeared on the floor, glowing purple-black in the snow and ice.
"SKALOS!" The demon appeared in a burst of flame. "Isn't Myria-friend such a good guest? She keeps both of us entertained, doesn't she?"
"Yes, Myria-friend is good. We like chewing the juicy parts..." Kirnardaz, while not as crazy as Skalos, was still a more dominant mind, and he easily controlled the speech of Skalos.
((OOC: Interpret "juicy parts" how you will, Kirnardaz is deliberately being ambiguous, lol, evil, sick, twisted mind games demon))
Just as Jy'aad was about to loose the arrow, and shoot the demon, there came a distinct chill, one that he recognized instantly, and also came another voice.
"Jy'aad! Stand down!" It was his mother, Astraea, the Goddess of Death herself. She took a Sionhai form similar to Jy'aad, with black fur, and violet eyes. However, she was dressed in simple two part dress, with a black skirt and grey blouse, covered by a black cloak similar to his own.
Jy'aad, surprised at his mother's appearance, obeyed, banishing the arrow, and converting the now back to the pair of scythes it had once been. Sliding off of the deathly saddle, he also banished his deathly steed, it's form disappearing in a spout of violet flames. He wasn't sure why his mother had intervened, but it was both comforting and unnerving that she did.
"Skalos. Leave." Kirnardaz wanted his henchman to survive, and this god would easily crush Skalos. Skalos could die. Kirnardaz couldn't. Not anymore.
"Astraea... How... Pleasant..." The corner of Kirnardaz's mouth twitched in irritation at the god's intervention. He would have happily fought the demigod till his death.
"Mom, w-what are you doi-" Jy'aad started, but his mother smiled and held a finger up to his lips to silence him. She clearly had something planned, but she wouldn't reveal it.
"Kirnardaz, why are you here, bothering my son?" She asked, taking on a very motherly, scolding tone, crossing her arms. She had no problem letting the guards of a city harass the boy, mainly because he could handle them, nor did she mind the occasional demon, which easily fell to his scythes, but a demon prince?
Jy'aad was about to leave, and let the two of them sort out the issue, but his mother summoned a ring of violet fire as a signal for him to stay. Looking over, he saw her subtle waving her finger at him. Now he was really going to be late.
"I felt it necessary to inform him of his sister's fate, especially convenient as I was looking for my colleague at the time. You don't happen to know, by chance, a Necromancer named Xerordir?" Kirnardaz lied to the goddess. He was powerful enough to, so he wanted to.
"Really? If she had died, or had her soul crushed, my son here would have felt it." She said. She knew the demon was lying. It didn't surprise her. "And, as for Xerordir, he's currently burning in Hell" she said, with a matter-of-fact tone. Jy'aad nodded in confirmation. He'd seen the poor sod literally walk into Hell.
"Now, Jy'aad, why did you let this demon, this lowlife, get to you?" She said, turning to her son now. Jy'aad was surprised by the question, and only stuttered in response. The goddess extended her hand, motioned for her son to hand over something.
"Hand them over, Jy'aad."
"But, Mom, I-"
"Ah! None of that sass, young man!" She said, cutting him off. He wasn't really a boy anymore, but it was appropriate, as he was still fairly young. With reluctance, Jy'aad handed over his scythes, with an embarrassed look on his face. Luckily, his hood didn't let the demon prince see it.
"You'll get these back when you visit me this winter. Now, Kirnardaz," she said, turning to the demon prince. As she did, she banished the scythes back to the armory in the underworld...
"You misunderstand. I have complete control in my realm, I can keep anyone in it as dead or alive as I want them. If I want an undying chew toy for my pet, it can happen. I am a god in my realm."
"Even if that is so, I know you. It isn't like you to just snatch little eight year-old girls from a snow bank." She said. With a sudden wave of her hand, Jy'aad vanished in a column of fire, and, to his surprise, wound up in Hyoite. His mother, Astraea, however, stayed behind.
"I wouldn't want my son to see this." She said, with the same grim smirk that Jy'aad kept of his face most of the time. Extending her arms to ever sides, she conjured a ring of larhe black, spiked rocks around the demon prince. Then, letting out a lulling, mysterious chant, she made Kirnardaz feel the pain of all he'd inflicted in others throughout his life time.
((OOC: I'm feeling a penance stare here, lol))
Kirnardaz felt the pain and laughed. He was enjoying this too much to be sane.
"Your attempt at making me suffer just makes me prouder of myself... You think I would feel guilt? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA.."
While his mother was busy with Kirnardaz, Jy'aad was enjoying his stay with his family. Indeed, he missed the old cabin he grew up in, as well as the warm food his stepmother made.
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Meanwhile, Astraea sighed. Releasing the demon prince, who was obviously enjoying the torture far to much, she left him with a final word of warning.
"Don't aggravate Jy'aad. He already has enough to deal with, and I don't want some demon prince running around, claiming he had killed Myria." She said sternly. With that, she left the demon prince in the frozen wasteland, returning to the underworld...
"I didn't. I simply keep her. She is Skalos' plaything. Bless her little heart. Which he has eaten about 5 times. He ate everything between as well. Hahahahaha!" Kirnardaz was enjoying mocking the intelligence of the goddess.