Library: Power has its Price, A Lost Times Tale.

Servants are so hard to come by, I swear. In the old days, well, what any mortal would call the old days(time matters not to me, you see), servants were begging to come into my fold. So many, they all were so easily turned from the light, all it took was the slightest extension of my power into their material plane... Greedy mortals, they were attracted me as moths to a flame. My plane requires considerable maintenance. For this, I need to enslave souls. It is such a chore to clean up after my saturnalia, and I'll be damned(oops, too late, ha!) if I am going to demean myself in that way. It is not a simple job being the greatest source of evil in the entire multiverse. At any rate, I could regale amusing tales of mayhem, but my intent here is to tell you of a particularly good servant I acquired quite some time ago. You see, I had recently thrown a fete for Asmodeus, and in the process, as it usually happens, several of my attendants were...hmm, for lack of a better term, destroyed. I took one look at the mess and knew iimediately that I required a particularly strong candidate. I checked the list of mortals that had taken my offer of eternal damnation for minor mortal power, and one name seemed to jump out at me, 'Apocalipsis'. Hmm, perhaps it was time to tip the scales in my favor on this one. You must understand, I never made any guarantee to these fools that I would not interfere with them, I simply said that I would enhance their power, and if they were to be slain, then they would be mine. Hmm, Apocalipsis, let's just see, what _are_ you up to? I viewed him, he was, as usual locked in combat, only this time, as luck would have it, it was against a worthy foe. Oh ho, look at that, it's old Tiamat, picking on a band of mortals, one of whom happened to be my chosen one! Ha! Unfortunately for me, the mortals seemed to be winning, this simply would not do. Curse those healers, they irked me one too many times. In a flash, I appeared next to Tiamat. "Tia dear, how HAVE you been?" Tiamat swivelled 2 heads to glare at me. "What do you want," she said(bear in mind that when tiamat spoke, the words came from all different heads at different times, it really is quite pleasantly unsettling.) "I am occupied a the moment, and we have an agreement, so leave me be." "I, surprisingly enough, want nothing more than to offer you some of my might. You see, I wish to have one of your tormentor's souls, and I am afraid that I must bend some rules to get it." Tiamat's heads stopped snaking in all directions and turned toward me as one. "And what, pray tell, must I do for you? You have never made it a habit to give freely of yourself, do not expect me to believe that you are starting now." "True, true, it is not my nature, but in a way, what I am getting is this particular soul, and what you are getting is your life. As it stands, you are losing this battle, and you will fall, surely you know this; you need not admit it, I will spare your pride." She snorted haughtily. "All I will do is augment your power until you destroy this Apocalipsis. After that, I collect his soul, and we are both on our own." Two mighty heads, red and black, reared toward the ceiling of her lair, lost in thought. Blue and white scanned all exits for signs of our intrepid mortals, while green remained trained directly on me, searching for some sign of deceit, no doubt. A low hiss escaped her, a sign of sure frustration(Tia always tried to keep her draconian nature in check when speaking to non-dragons.), and she spoke, each word from green head, a sign that she was very serious. "Yesss, I believe I shall take you up on this offer, but I have one provision. My offspring, it is to be mine, no longer do you get my egg. Our earlier arrangement is void as of your agreement. Agree to this or get no cooperation from me!" Well, well, leave it to Tiamat to make my day less pleasant. I truly do like her, she is a being after my own heart(as black as it is). "Hmm, Tia you certainly know how to bargain. What gave me away? I did attempt not to appear eager, drat! Alas, you have me here, and I will agree to your terms. So, then! It is done, go forth." A rumbling emerged from her chest, emerging as an enormous laughter. It echoed powerfully through the cavern, shaking loose several stalactites, sending them crashing to the floor. "YESSSS! I shall live up to my agreement! You were a fool to offer so much at the outset, I knew immediately that you wanted this 'Apocalipsis' very much, indeed! Begone, Satan, and leave me to my chore." I grinned, she was right, as usual, I had extended myself too far for her, and in the process, I had lost my access to her firstborn. Well, you really must admire her skill. I quickly grew to a height rivaling her own and gave her a kiss, making her howl in rage,(she nearly managed to bite me, but I am too fast) and went back to my demense. Tiamat, with my help, did indeed slay Apocalipsis, but, like a fool, slew him while there were other adventurers about. True to my word, I instantly removed my powers from Tia, and she subsequently fell to the remaining mortals. I felt some remorse for her loss, but took some solace in the fact that her egg lived on, perhaps one day I would have my chance with her offspring. Nevertheless, I was forced to take my eye from this mortal strife to capture the soul that I had been after for so long. I quickly searched the various planes where souls go after death on the mortal plane, and found Apocalipsis, a bit confused, but otherwise intact. Lars, as usual was hovering nearby, waiting to get Apocalipsis reincarnated to a new mortal body, but his face fell when he saw me. I smiled, my most charming smile, Lars hung his head and turned away. Apocalipsis saw me, and grinned, a mirror of my own. Not what I expected, not at all. Most of my previous servants had either screamed or tried to get away. Not this one, no. He walked to me and grasped my hand, bowing slightly. "I am yours," he mouthed, for the dead have no voice, "take me into your fold." Take him into my fold, I did. At first, I treated him as any other servant, and expected him to be destroyed within a short time. After several years had elapsed, though, he was still with me, grinning his evil grin, and I had grown to enjoy his company. He was amusing, a perfectly loyal servant, and even at my most raucous gatherings of various demonkind, he always survived the ordeal. Indeed, even entertaining the demons with his tales of his evil deeds! There was only one solution, I was forced to create a strong body for him. With it, he could serve me as a demon, instead of a lowly spirit. The unfortunate side effect would be that, as a demon, he would grow in power and influence, and eventually, like most demons, challenge me. It was a risk that I would have to live with. This is, in the end, exactly what I did. Apoc, as we called him now, was given this body, and over the years, he grew to have fame and fortune of his own, he was accepted by the other demons as peers, no longer an underling. As predicted, our confrontation did come to pass... He approached me, my right hand, my protege. He stood to his full height, nearly to my shoulder, and hailed me. "Lord Satan, I have come to ask something of you." He paused, waiting for my acknowledgement. I nodded, and he continued. "I have served you long and well, my time has come to copntrol my own domain, my own destiny." I stood and glared at him. "Who are you to come and demand this of me? You, to whom I have given unimagineable power. You, with whom I have trusted secrets that no mortal would ever have even guessed! How dare you!" I was trembling with rage. Apocalipsis stepped back and waited for my anger to subside. "My lord, I fear you misunderstand me." I paused a moment and sat back down. "Continue, then, I will hear what you have to say, as you know, you are like no other servant that I have ever commanded." "I realize that work on your own plane is important, and that my help is useful in matters of demonic politics, but in the end, I fear that I am capable of more, that my abilities are going unused in this plane." Apocalipsis stopped, and licked his lips, a particularly demonic habit he had picked up over the years. "My lord, I am asking to go back to my realm, the mortal plane. There, the realm with which no other demon is so familiar, I can be of immense help toward extending your influence!" Apocalipsis, always so inventive...Yes, this was an interesting thought. I had long ago been closed off from the mortal plane by the implementors(yes, there are powers higher then even my own, they are our creators, and for the large part, they leave us to our own devices). With Apocalipsis, I may one day be able to use him as a bridge to gain another foothold... Yes, this was a great plan, I was rather glad I had thought of it! "Apocalipsis, you may indeed go to the mortal plane. You, of all demonkind, are the perfect being for the task. Your name, however, must not remain as Apocalipsis. Your name lives on in the mortal plane in legend, as one of Satan's victims. If you were to return, my promise of eternal torment would lose all meaning. Therefore, you must choose another before you are allowed to do so." Apocalipsis paced briefly. "I understand and obey, Lord Satan. I am hereby to be named 'Apocalypse'. Is this satisfactory?" Apoc smiled, a most perfectly evil smile, demonic teeth gleaming in the light. "It is perfectly suited for you, my champion. You are hereby granted this freedom, do not disappoint me, and report your findings every year to me. Go now, and one day we shall meet again." I raised my arm in salute. Apocalypse mirrored my salute and stalked off into the surrounding gloom. As I heard his footfalls fading into the distance, I was already lost in thought. Mortals...once again mine to torment, to play with. It would bring demonkind together once more, instead of the fragmented existence that we live in now. Yes, Apocalypse, serve me well, for you hold the future of the mortal plane in your capable talons... Taken from a log stolen from the shelves of Satan's bookcase, a story that will have to wait for another day...

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Library: Power has its Price, A Lost Times Tale.