Chapter 204: The Deathless
Chapter 204: The Deathless
An invitation for an audience with someone called the Deathless. Sounded way too pompous for my liking, but it gave me a way to meet someone with connections and influence in this place, where violence was so common, that any ripple it might cause smoothed out as soon as that on a surface of water.
In simpler words: people here were fighting so much that even if I beat them, they would forget it the next day. I was sure that the air bandits I caught by now forgot all about me, too, and returned to their business or robbing travellers.
The den of the Deathless was a well-hidden in the slum jungle burrow, the way to which was opened to me only after I told the seemingly inconsequential scavenger near the place my title. With my ability to see through obstacles, I already found the entrance, but I also found the guards that hid inside.
I could beat them and venture in by force, but then what was the point in me having the invitation? I could beat them up later, too. For now, I chose to enter like any other visitor.
Underground, the burrow branched to an entire web of narrow hallways and winding corridors. I had to bow my head to pass through them, and so did my guide. The reason for the low ceiling was as clear as that for the closeness of the walls. The material of the ground in Limbo was a monolith rock, one that was extremely hard to dig through, even with tools. Centuries must’ve been necessary to carve even as much in it as the lord of this place did.
The room to which I was brought was small, too—but at least I could stand straight without morphing my body into a shorter shape. It had modest furnishings and flamerock lamps on the walls—a great luxury, since flamerock was only found in the Fifth Circle.
The Deathless himself sat in a leather chair across the entrance. His appearance was striking—because he looked very much like a human, an unremarkable for some place in the mortal realm, young man. In his mind, though, I could feel dark and dangerous thoughts of a true demon. Calculations of what to make of me and how I could be used, made with clarity that shown considerable intelligence.
This fellow was smart and old, despite his looks. Creatures didn’t age in Hell, but souls gained demonic features with time as they were tormented by its nature. Except for this guy, apparently.
“Hello there, Devourer. I suppose the rumours of your reincarnation have been exaggerated.” The Deathless smiled at me. “You’ve created quite a ruckus around my territory, and you have only been in Limbo for a day. I wonder what is your end goal here? To take it over for your new kingdom? Or something else?”
“Is this why you invited me over?” I raised my brows, and without asking for permission, sat down on the second chair in the room. The Deathless, used to the lack of any manners amongst demonkind, didn’t even pay notice.
“That’s a part of it. I was very curious, and I knew that there can be only one way of satisfying that curiosity.”
“Well, now I’m curious too.” I gave the Deathless a narrow-eyed look, at the same time scanning his insides with my see-through vision. He was human there as well. “Why are you called deathless, and why you are so well-preserved?”
“I’m the Deathless because to that day, I did not die once. And this is a secret to my good looks, too.” The Deathless’s smile widened from the knowledge that he kept to himself, and I was taken aback as I read it in his mind.
He was an adventurer! After being banished to Hell by a warlock, he not only kept his divine power, he continued to keep them past the one-year deadline of the Guild’s contract by killing demons. Which, apparently, was enough to appease it.
And after decades of fighting, the Deathless became a high-level rogue. Even now he wondered how much EXP I would give to him. A very familiar set of thoughts—I knew well that he won’t give me as much EXP as I’d like were I to eat him.
“Do you not believe me?” The Deathless interpret my shock as disbelief and inclined his head to the side. “Well, your choice. So, what is your goal here? I feel like we can be useful to each other.”
I dismissed my wonder about the Deathless’s origins and went to my primary concern. Whether or not he was an adventurer didn’t matter. “I search for powerful warriors to aid me in the upcoming fight against gods. My payment—a passage to the mortal realm. I can imagine that you are strong yourself. Want to help?”
“This is very tempting, if you can truly do that,” the Deathless looked a little pained for the briefest moment. He didn’t want to die, and he didn’t want to stay in Hell if could go back. He had a lot to lose, but he also knew what he already lost. When he regained his composure, there was doubt in his eyes. “Which I am unsure of, Devourer. Even you are not all-powerful. Say, you can teleport to the mortal realm when you wish… What keeps you here, in Hell? It’s the Twelve, isn’t it? And yet you can’t defeat them on your own. I heard the rumours—they already beat you once. Who’s to say they won’t just do the same again, if this is their intent?”
I snarled. This song again. What’s more, even though the Deathless truly believed it, he still just used it as a cause. The cause to say the next words.
“If I were to help you, I want a proof that you are a deal worth my time, Devourer. And if this proof helps me—well, I will be only more obliged to help you later.”