For the Record

I’m in danger.

Oh, I’m in danger. I should have known I’d be next… it was my mistake getting involved with that… thing.

The same thing I have at swordpoint right now, trying and failing to smile disarmingly.

“What the hells do you want? How did you even get in here?” I shakily challenge while my glimmering rapier hovers at its throat.

“Oh please, child,” it smoothly purrs, “the barriers of the gods mean nothing if you can step through the space between spaces.”

And then it seems to catch itself and laughs awkwardly. “Ah, ahaha, sorry. Sometimes that just happens I guess? Anyway, I was just curious what you’ve been up to for the last, what, three hundred and something years? I slept for a long time.”

“The other question, then?” I snarl through gritted teeth.

“I… thought I answered it. I stopped in to say hello. You know, catch up? I don’t know what bridges I haven’t burned so I’m trying to find out.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Why should I believe you aren’t here to ruin more of my life? Kill more of my people, destroy more of my cities?”

“Oh. I… Did I? Hmmm…” the thing in the guise of a pitch-black woman mumbles with a look of genuine confusion. “Did I do those things?”

“Yes, you did. To your supposed allies, no less.”

We stand in silence for a moment before it speaks again. “Huh. Uhhhh… sorry, I guess. I’ve been through a lot.”

“‘Sorry’, you say? ‘SORRY!?’”

“…Yeah. Sorry, I’m not good at this. And Nyx isn’t talking to me anymore…”

“What does that have to do with anything?” I sigh.

The thing I once called an ally looks around briefly before muttering out of nowhere, “No, we need to sit for this I think… none of this is proper… why does it have to be proper? I don’t know, I don’t even know. But it has to, it has to be, it’s the right way to do this… So, uh. So…”

And suddenly, I’m hurtling through some dark space, wrapped up in obsidian tendrils I hadn’t even seen coming. Before I even have a chance to scream, a brilliant flash of light surrounds me, along with a sharp tearing sound, depositing me stumbling to a marble surface before a table and set of chairs in a small recognizable gazebo.

“What just happened?” I stammer, trying and failing to catch my bearings as I struggle to remain standing.

The malignant being I’d been speaking with simply sits down at one of the chairs and lifts a delicate porcelain cup, already steaming, and takes a small sip. “What ever do you mean? I brought you here so we could talk like civilized people. Or gods, I suppose, though most of our ilk I find far less than civilized… and they call me a demon lord. Well then, go on, take a seat. We’ve a lot of catching up to do, yes? You’re nothing like your predecessor, after all. Or one of them, I suppose, I don’t really know how many of you existed since I ate myself. He was rather boorish, yes, always keen to sow discord… rather easy to manipulate though! Why, a well-placed rumor or comment was plenty to nudge him into starting half a dozen wars by himself!”

I stand silently with my blade still shakily leveled at my apparent captor for a few moments until it become absolutely clear that it doesn’t intend to do me harm, at least not directly, before finally sheathing it and taking a seat.

A familiar undead woman in lacey attire appears from nowhere to my side, presenting a second porcelain vessel and promptly filling it, before offering a small toothy smile and again vanishing before I can react.

“She’s gotten quite skilled at this, hasn’t she? Nula, I mean. Although I must admit, the head maid of an estate insisting on being the primary source of care for their lady? I’d have thought managing the others would be a more important role considering chain of command and so on and so forth, but she manages it all spectacularly regardless. Telepathic communication, I suppose? I do believe they have Skills in the category at least similar to my own, and yet she refuses to delegate.”

“I… I see.”

“Yes, I’m sure you do. Did you also inherit your staff, or at least some of it? We’ve never really discussed it, you know. Oh, what was it we used to discuss… hmm… mostly small talk, wasn’t it? Pleasantries? I’d relearned at least partially how that’s done from you.”

I blink. Was it always this eloquent?

…

It gazes expectantly for a moment before letting out a small sigh. “I suppose I should have expected as much.”

“Who are you, exactly? You aren’t Nemesis, that is certain,” I ask.

“Oh, my dear,” it purrs, “I most certainly am. Or I suppose we are, in a sense. As of the most recent debacle, we’ve finished merging… one could reasonably argue that I’ve remembered who I once was and added it to my current self.”

…

“…You’re Astraea, then?” I cautiously ask.

“Oh, Eris, Eris… I’ve explained this, yes? In part yes, I am indeed Astraea; however I am Nemesis in entirety. Astraea is simply who we once were. Nyx too, yes, but that’s a whole different can of worms, yeah? She’s still not talking to me, but I already said that. It’s unfortunate, my present self was pretty reliant on her advice even if I didn’t show it,” it answers with a vaguely melancholic look.

…

…

This is way too convenient. Much, much too convenient. “You’re keeping us talking. Keeping me talking. What are you plotting? What are you doing to my people while I’m here?”

The pitch black thing shrugs lightly. “Nothing, really. It’s again like I already said… I’m trying to figure out what bridges I’ve burned and what can be repaired. You really have done a lot for me, and while I can’t restore souls I’ve consigned to the void – dreadfully sorry about that, by the way – I can potentially help in other ways. The words of creation are rather powerful, outright overpowered I’d say. There must be something I can do by way of apology. Maybe… hmm.”

It idly runs a finger along the edge of its cup for a moment before saying, “I could restore some or all of your cities, although the denizens therein you would need to replace yourself unless… well. I have advice there as well if you are willing to hear it.”

***

Here I stand – or float, really, my feet haven’t touched the ground in some time – in one of the freshly rebuilt and repopulated cities of the Living Mount, Eris’ personal dimension. Or one of them, rather, but the one she chooses to call home.

She did in fact take my advice… the entire city is now a dungeon unto itself. I find it rather strange that so many of the gods are entrenched in the tradition of building dungeons underground or in towers, to the extent that many don’t even realize they can be in any shape one wishes. Forests, plains, mountains, the contents of interstitials, even entire planes can be made into dungeons – as illustrated by my own home plane, now sometimes colloquially known as the Rift for the massive hole to nowhere occupying part of the sky.

The hole I left when I awoke, an event I have no intention of repeating. I have far, far too much to lose… Too much effort invested.

I suppose that would be the same reason Eris has been so upset with me. I have no idea how much time and effort she’d invested to make this city a living place, with a mortal population that both showered her in adoration and maintained their status quo with minimal input from her – a complete ecosystem unto itself.

One of the monster denizens waves and offers a subdued “hello” as they pass. It’s again clear to me that Eris, despite being a goddess of strife, has strangely chosen order as her theme.

Well, whatever.

I won’t pretend that any of this has healed the rift between us, but at least she doesn’t immediately put a sword to my throat whenever we chat now.

That’s still progress.

…

Unlike what has been happening with my wife.

***

She’s starting to thrash again.

I glance down at the goddess in my arms. Nightmares have continued to plague her, both sleeping and awake it would seem, and the signs of the next fit are all to evident.

I’m at my wits’ end. Nothing seems to be helping.

Although…

There is most certainly something I haven’t tried.

…

Something I’d promised I’d never do, at least in part.

But I’m not going to change her. I have a different avenue, at least I think I might…

It’s certainly worth a try.

I focus my will on her, and her present state of mind.

And then, using a combination of Dominate, Bewilder, and our bond, I dive into her dream.