OBD Convo #47: You Still Wanna F*** With Me?!

Chapter 29: The Idea of Evil

"The very best of people? That which makes them worthy of life? Which allows them to grasp towards a purpose to call their own? An adventure unlike any other? It is the poison that will kill them one day. Just as cancer is the abundance of life which leads to death? Just as air which grants life will one day take it? Love will be their end."

- Grandmother Crow

King Gaiseric would dream of her. The person he cherished above all others. The woman he took as his own when he ascended to the throne. That throne which he had fashioned from the remains of those who would dare oppose him. All obstacles brought to heel at last, and flayed in the temple that would become his palace. Their bodies, torn from their skin, would be stuck onto pikes! A spectacle to serve as a grim reminder that just because he was known as a righteous steward? That did not mean he would show his enemies any recourse or redemption.

The rewards of tolerance were always betrayal and treachery, and he had learned that his compassion would become a tool for any rival. A way to invade every sanctuary he worked tirelessly to erect. A ruler could not simply show compassion in all things. They had to have a steady hand, and be willing to make use of violence. It is love that made a people flourish, and it is fear that kept the serpents in their place.

On the dirt with the rest of the refuse.

A tribe of people who had called themselves chosen had been growing in influence. Their greed was unmatched. Their hunger for status unquenchable. They wanted more power, and they would take it from him. Just another thing obstructing his destiny. That is what he thought. Their cult had been growing, and there were agents even in parts of the capital. His capital. The nation he had built was being stolen from him, and he could not rout all of the snakes.

Danan, or The Flower Storm Monarch as some called her, looked just like his beloved. In this era of uncertainty that was the only comfort he still had. That maiden had stood by him, and held him close. Her mysterious talent for magic had been a boon. The young woman had become his advisor in all things paranormal, and then eventually he found himself ensnared by her beauty. The witch had become his wife, and as he learned more about her? He had discovered that her beauty went beyond anything physical, and ventured into the metaphysical. That unconditional love was something that perplexed him, and haunted him every day. It did not seem natural.

In mortals, of which he governed, love had a limit. The basis of which was equivalent exchange. One party treated the other exactly the same as they would themselves. It could never be anything other than conditional. Whether it was obligation to family, or to a friend who had fought by your side? There had to be something in return. It was never the case with the witch!

Her love did not need to be returned, and she loved with an intensity that many would mistake for madness. Some of the most despicable criminals brought to tears just witnessing it. King Gaiseric had to wonder if they had been doing it all wrong. If the love they practiced was but a shadow of whatever this was.

The Chosen People as they were called? They worshiped a deity no one has ever heard of. In their murals he had seen depictions of it. An enormous heart that was beating in tandem with a swirling vortex, and their high priest; the leader of their flock. The one they had called κανένας. King Gaiseric could not help but feel shaken by it. The intuition he had always trusted? It was going around the bend. Those instincts that had been tempered in war? They were trying to warn him.

However, that love would always be there. That which he had discovered in the witch, and he was at peace. It felt as if there was nothing that he couldn't conquer, and perhaps that had made him weak. That regret had assaulted him as he woke from his slumber. The Skull Knight had dozed off on his horse. He was back in Arlan's Way, and all he could hear were the whispers of the denizens from Elysium. That had migrated to this plane.

They reminded him of her. There was an intrinsic virtue to be found in all of them. That served as an example for mortals. This is what their love could have been like. If only they put in any of the effort.

It was unheard of in a world as harsh as this.

"All of that coin, and here you are sleeping!" I interrupt the musings of the wraith. "What are you doing?"

"You do not pay me at all, Arlan." The Skull Knight grumbles in annoyance. "I was reminiscing, if you must know."

"Perhaps I would provide the coin if you actually did anything!" I take a seat next to him. We were both in the courtyard of the palace. Where I had previously confronted that avatar of Vecna. The night had come to veil my city in darkness, and the moon had revealed itself to illuminate the streets. "I have come seeking answers. I think I have earned them."

"Ask away, Lord Vorlesh." The Skull Knight dismounts from his horse. He would face The Knight Commander. "What piques the interest of a champion?"

"This all began centuries ago, and I think you know where and when it did. Start explaining." I am deadly serious. I wouldn't leave without any answers. "Consider it an order from your Knight Commander."

"If that is the case? Who am I to deny you." The ghost sits down. The Skull Knight massages one of his wrists. One of his gauntlets that would have housed his hand if he still had one.

"Who is Void exactly?" That demon lord who ruled over every other in this plane. Our next target in this crusade I had sanctioned. The grim reaper had bade me to collect on that life.

"A man of the cloth." The Skull Knight answers. "A priest in life. Who thought he had found the truth. They were like the Holy See of today, but they were much closer to realizing what exactly it was they worshiped."

"He didn't?" That is when I turn to look at the lich. "What did he find instead?"

"An opportunity. A way to exploit those who had believed in him." κανένας had cast aside all of his followers. His belief was not shaken, and when his deity made a request of him? He always obeyed without any question. "The Godhand were never the same. Before Void? There were already four of them."

"There were other demon lords in the service of The Idea of Evil?" I had not seen any of them. Had they already perished? "Who was it that destroyed them?"

"Void made them all answer for their disobedience. His belief was unbreakable. Their pact was not. It ended once they turned their sights on their master." That was a lot to take in. Void had fought four demon lords, and even triumphed against them? "Void was not chosen like they were. κανένας had found The Heart of Darkness by himself, and had sought an audience with it. He had bargained for one at the expense of my people."

"They were all branded?" I had to know. How did this bygone iteration of the Kingdom of Midland fall?

"All of them, Knight Commander. No one was spared. The four angels came to my dominion, and left it in ruin when they made their leave. The souls of my people consigned to the Abyss. They became five on that day, but soon they would become as one. When it became apparent that the rest only saw their master as the one holding their leash? They wanted their freedom and fought for it." The Skull Knight nods his head. "I made allies out of some, and I had thought there was a chance. That I could have my revenge. There was not."

"It came to that? That those enemies who partook in the destruction of your empire? They became your allies? Such was your desperation in that moment?" I felt a measure of disapproval, but then I remember Nocticula. Our Lady in Shadow. Had I not allied with demon lords, and forged a truce with these malignant beasts? I could not criticize him.

No more than I could criticize myself.

"I did not have The Sixth Crusade. I did not have a Knight Commander. I had no Godclaw. Nor the love of the divine." The Skull Knight clenches his hands tightly. "I did what I had to do. No more, no less. I was not a champion. I was just another conqueror. Whose only saving grace was the love that he knew." There was more to it. I could feel it.

"What made Void seek out The Heart of Darkness?"

"I did."

I pause at that. I can practically hear the crack in his voice. It was unmistakably shame.

"What did you do, Gaiseric? What torture did you inflict on κανένας?" I look directly into those blazing torches that were The Skull Knight's eyes.

"In that era we did not take kindly to heathens and blasphemers. When I had them at my mercy? I butchered the lot of them, and their parish? I set it ablaze. I spared their high priest only to imprison him in the Tower of Conviction. κανένας became my prisoner, and I exposed him to every punishment I could imagine. I used him to set an example. That none of my enemies might forget to fear King Gaiseric! Only for my cruelty to inspire fear in my own people!" This was difficult for him. The truth was always the greatest challenge to face.

"My beloved tried to impart any kind of mercy in the tyrant that I was, but she had failed. In turn, I had failed her. What happened was my fault, but my people did not deserve to suffer for my mistakes. If he wanted revenge? He only had to sacrifice the monster in front of you. Instead all of my people had to endure worse, and the woman I loved? I had to watch die in my arms." The Skull Knight rises at that. He had answered my question. "May I take my leave, Arlan?"

"Of course, my friend. I have much to mull on." That did explain a lot, but there was still the question of The Idea of Evil. I knew where Void came from, and what made him into what he was, but what about The Idea of Evil?

Where did it begin, and where did it end? I knew the answer to the latter at least. It did not matter where it began.

The ending would be of my own meticulous design.

I would be where it ended.