Fable - Ask Dread No More

[Azzerin]

The descent of the glide would take them towards a peak far to the North in the Jades. From there, one could swear a dot in the distance was Elbion and a turn south they could swear to seeing Vel Anir. Who was to say if it were true or not.

He could sense she wasn't afraid, for now. A boon, really. Fear had a way of tarnishing the taste, while intensifying the scent, a double-edged sword for those who preyed upon mortals.

Are you very far from home?

"Yes.. and a very resounding no, at the same time." The demon would say before he flared his wings to allow him to position his feet beneath them. The landing wasn't exactly gentle, but it would see her without anything more than jarring. "I suggest you don't phase here. This peak is solid for a long way, would hate for you to get stuck somewhere in the middle and die painfully. Would make for a wasted flight."

Chasmine

 

[Chasmine]

Yes and no.

Chasmine puzzled over this quietly. Though her experience with the spirit realm was far greater than most, she was vastly lacking in knowledge of any demonic realms beyond what she'd read about in tomes, scrolls, and other books. Could it be that his realm overlaid the mortal realm, so that the point at which they presently existed would have mirrored his home, only separated by the delineation of residual levels?

Quietly lost in her thoughts, the short jostling of his landing brought her to and she looked around at their new surroundings within the mountain peaks. Where this was in relation to where they had been she'd yet to work out, but his warning was duly noted.

"I was once stuck in the ground beneath the academy for two days," she replied distantly at the memory - one she would prefer not to think on, "eventually I woke up in the catacombs...I think there may be a spiritual confluence there that draws me to it."

 

[Azzerin]

..eventually I woke up in the catacombs...I think there may be a spiritual confluence there that draws me to it.

"Death calls to us all, it's an invisible pull between us and the Dark Fates. Some are just more... in tune with it. Others, can bend it to their will. A dark force there may have already claimed your soul." He mused, his wings folding into his torso, obscured from view. From the look on his face, it was very unpleasant.

All around them, icy winds howled piercing them deep to the bone. At the demons feet, the snow melted around his boots and warmth radiated from his body, as if it were an aura to fight the cold. "Come, we still have a long way to go." He mused, before continuing down the icy peak. He bore no fear of slipping, nor did he care to look back to see if she was following. She had little choice but to remain at his side or freeze to death.

"Tell me, mortal. What do you know of my kind?" He asked over his shoulder. "What do you know of Children of Abbon?"

Chasmine

 

[Chasmine]

"I do not think so," Chasmine rebutted the demon, her tone thoughtful as she followed after him. It was windy up here and quite bitterly cold - something she was not adequately dressed for with her festival outfit. Wrapping her shawl about her shoulders and pulling it snug, she leaned into the winds as she followed on Azzerin's heels.

"The catacombs are the one place on the Academy grounds that I've always found to be quite peaceful. The only darkness there were the shadows of Delaney, and they were only being protective of her." But she had come to understand their wariness of her, and come to grow a fondness for the other white-haired Initiate and her shades. Those of which she had always wondered their connection to her own ghastly companions ... but of the darker variety.

"Children of Abbon..." her soft voice was likely hard to hear in the gale, whisked away into the icy winds as it was. Chasmine bore against the shivers that had begun to wrack her body, "m-most scriptures say demons were created b-by the Dark Ones." She had to think back to her reading, "Abbon was the Aspect of the V-v-v," oh dear, this cold was truly unforgiving, "void."

 

[Azzerin]

"Well, you wouldn't know, now would you?" Azzerin fired back with a look over his shoulder. His steps quickened, if only to remove himself from the unforgiving cold. He didn't feel it, it was moreso an annoyance. And he hated those.

"This Delaney controls shadows?" That pulled a laugh from him. "Perhaps she was kissed by a Child of Abbon. Cursed in the eyes of mortals, Chosen in the eyes of mine." It was a humorous thought, that a demon could ever find a reason to bless a mortal. But.. it did happen.

Children of Abbon... m-most scriptures say demons were created b-by the Dark Ones. Abbon was the Aspect of the V-v-v-void

"Yes, the Void Father.. there are bloodlines of demons, his being the most profound." Of course it was, it was the one he was born into. "We have worthless cousins that follow the other Aspects. Though only a fool follows the mortal-turned demon. Many of his are like him. Half-breeds. Pretenders."

He noticed her shivers, her cold. Hells, these mortals were weak. It was amazing they ever won wars against the Demons. He slowed his walk, allowing her to feel more of the heat that radiated off of him. "Stay close, mortal. If you freeze to death, its been a wasted trip."

Chasmine

 

[Chasmine]

This was all very revealing of the nature of demons that remain relatively unwritten. Or, perhaps, unresearched? There were, of course, mages and historians abroad that dedicated their lives to studying the realms, ephemera, hierarchies, and pantheons of the darker aspects of the world. But usually they were doing so in order to find better ways to purge them from existence. Demon Hunters. Priests. Monster Slayers.

No, now that she thought about it - she couldn't recall a single author who had studied it just because.

"I did not know there were such p-prrejudices among demon-kin," and she did not need any further insistence to stay close. At his word, Chasmine gathered her momentary wits and summoned the strength to brace against the painful chill long enough to get a few trotting steps in to catch up. It was certainly warmer here, nearer to him, like a campfire on a cold winter night in the wilderness.

Though a possessed campfire most would find quite foreboding to be near.

"Are you a Child of Abbon?"

 

[Azzerin]

I did not know there were such p-prrejudices among demon-kin.

That gave him pause, enough that she might almost bump into him at his abrupt stop. "No?" He asked with an amused look. "Are there... no prejudices amongst you mortals? Just a year ago you treated Elves like rabid dogs. Now you're kind enough to give them collars." He seemed amused, though thoughtful. "We compete, as the worshippers of any pantheon compete."

He would resume walking, his glance casually looking over his shoulder to respond to the next question. "His second son. In time, I will be his only true heir." He mused. "And then I will remove the children of the other Dark Ones, so that only Abbon may inherit this world."

Their trek would come to another stop, this time for them to inspect a burn. A patch of the mountain where fire had been used to melt through ice and rock. Azzerin stooped beneath the entrance, leaving the howling winds behind in exchange for the darkness that now inhabited the demon-made cave. "What do you know of your parents, mortal?"

Chasmine