Deus Necros

The Birth of Sloth

The first notification appeared while Nightbreaker remained buried in the crater: [You have slain the Slothful Death.]

Ludwig stared at the message until two more windows materialized before him, announcing, [You have completed Eternal Quest IV]

[Eternal Quest V is now available].

A third notification followed almost immediately

[You have slain Malakar.]

That name gave Ludwig pause, and he quietly repeated it as he finally learned the identity of the creature he had killed.

Before he could think about Malakar any further, additional messages began stacking over one another.

The first announced, [The Authority of Wrath wanes], and the crimson crystals surrounding Ludwig cracked in response.

The next window read, [The Authority of Envy wanes], causing the purple light within his eye to disappear.

[The Authority of Pride wanes] followed, the oppressive certainty wrapped around the battlefield faded with it.

The final notification

[All Authorities have been disabled.]

Everything Ludwig had forced his body to become began unraveling as soon as the message appeared, and the transformation reversed with an almost merciful gentleness.

His enormous frame shrank first as the muscles that had grown thick enough to match Sloth’s monstrous body began retracting. Bones shifted inward, shortened, and realigned themselves while his massive hands returned to their usual size around Nightbreaker’s handle. The horns protruding from his forehead cracked apart before dissolving into crimson particles.

The black and red vines beneath his skin faded, his fangs shortened, and the completely crimson eye regained its usual appearance.

Within several seconds, Ludwig stood in the ruined canyon in something close to his ordinary form.

The battle had left his Living Vessel in a terrible condition. Hairline fractures spread across his skin from his chest to his arms, resembling cracks running through porcelain. Some opened slightly whenever he moved, revealing darkened flesh beneath before slowly sealing again.

His fingers trembled because the Living Vessel had very little strength left to give.

Ludwig raised one shaking hand, studied it with mild curiosity, and said, ”Huh.”

He attempted to close the hand into a fist, but his fingers responded slowly.

”That’s new,” he muttered before his knees weakened beneath him.

Ludwig chose to sit before gravity made the decision for him, and Nightbreaker disappeared from his hand. For several moments, he remained at the bottom of the crater and surveyed what was left of the battlefield.

The canyon had ceased to exist as a recognizable formation. A few remnants of its walls stood in the distance, though most had been pulverized into fractured slopes while overlapping craters covered the region.

Crimson crystalline formations occupied enormous portions of the devastated landscape. Some rose several stories into the air, while others lay shattered by the impacts that followed their creation.

Movement appeared between the distant formations, causing Ludwig’s eyes to narrow. The black amalgamations Sloth had concealed within the canyon were beginning to emerge after surviving the collision between two world shaking behemoths.

One crawled from behind a shattered ridge while another pulled itself from beneath a layer of loose stone. Several more appeared farther away and cautiously surveyed the devastation.

Ludwig remained seated and called, ”Well?” The nearest creature stared at him for several seconds before turning around and running.

The others followed without hesitation, scattering away from Ludwig and fleeing deeper into the Dark Continent. Black forms climbed broken ridges and vanished through the few paths that remained intact.

Ludwig watched them disappear and quietly said, ”Smart.” He leaned backward until his shoulders touched the ground and looked toward the sky.

The calm heavens seemed strangely disconnected from everything that had happened beneath them. Ludwig rested both arms beside himself and drew a long breath, indulging in the familiar habit despite having no need for air.

His mind felt thoroughly spent after the battle. Wrath had failed to consume his consciousness, but watching through one eye while an Authority tried to destroy everything existence had ever created had hardly been a restful experience.

Ludwig closed his eyes and remained there for several minutes before the sound of approaching footsteps reached him. There were several sets, and he opened one eye as their owners entered the crater.

A familiar face appeared above him and blocked part of the sky. Kaiser leaned over Ludwig and said, ”Not bad, kid.”

Ludwig stared at him in disbelief before asking, ”That’s all?”

Kaiser snorted, ”Want me to clap?”

”I killed Sloth,” Ludwig reminded him, and Kaiser answered with a simple, ”Yes.” Ludwig emphasized that he had killed the Sloth, but the former lich continued regarding the accomplishment as merely ”not bad.”

Ludwig groaned as Cain appeared beside the former lich.

”That was an impressive fight,” Cain said. Ludwig pointed weakly toward Kaiser and adding, ”See? That’s how you talk to people.”

”I am not people,” Kaiser replied without any apparent offense. Ludwig looked at him saying ”Unfortunately.”

Celine arrived next with Noctivex mostly withdrawn from around her body. Only a thin layer of black metal remained across her shoulders and arms as she stared down at Ludwig.

he stared down at Ludwig.

”You are an idiot.”

Ludwig blinked.

”Never mind. Apparently nobody knows how compliments work.”

Celine crouched beside him.

”You allowed Wrath complete access to your body.”

”I had a plan.”

”You discovered the plan after doing it.”

”I improved the plan while doing it.”

”That is called improvising.”

”Exactly.”

”That does not make it safe.”

Ludwig smiled.

”You worried?”

”Yes.”

The immediate answer caught him slightly off guard.

Celine looked toward the fractures running across his arm.

”If Wrath had taken your mind along with the body, there is no telling what would have remained of you afterward.”

”I figured that out.”

”After you surrendered yourself to it.”

”Again, worked out pretty well.”

Celine stared.

Ludwig sighed.

”I had a plan.”

”You already said that.”

”And you should have trusted it.”

”You did not know the plan would work.”

”Minor detail.”

Tull approached behind them.

He had recovered enough to walk normally again, though his armor remained dented from his earlier introduction to a canyon wall.

He looked at Ludwig.

Then at what remained of the battlefield.

Then back at Ludwig.

”You’re actually more of a monster than the monster you just fought.”

Ludwig frowned.

”I genuinely don’t know if that’s a compliment.”

”It wasn’t.”

”Then fuck you too.”

Tull ignored him.

”I’m serious.”

”That makes one of us.”

”You’re growing too fast.”

Ludwig’s expression shifted slightly.

Tull gestured toward the devastated region around them.

”Five years ago, would you have been able to do this?”

”No.”

”Exactly.”

Tull looked uncomfortable.

”And now you’re combining Authorities of multiple Usurpers, killing things that can flatten kingdoms, and turning canyons into holes.”

”Mostly Wrath did that.”

”You were wearing Wrath.”

”Semantics.”

”It isn’t.”

Tull folded his arms.

”You’re becoming dangerous enough that eventually people in the Empire are going to start wondering what happens if you decide you don’t like them.”

Ludwig looked at him.

”You worried I’m going to overthrow the Emperor?”

”I’m saying people will worry.”

Ludwig laughed.

”You don’t need to.”

He placed one hand beneath himself and slowly sat upright.

The fractures across his arm tightened slightly.

”I have no problem with the Empire’s politicians.”

”That isn’t exactly comforting.”

”I have bigger problems.”

Ludwig looked upward.

”Besides, I’ve got a job to do for Necros.”

A notification appeared.

Ludwig stopped.

Everyone noticed.

”What?” Celine asked.

Ludwig read it.

[You are being invited to a meeting with Necros.]

[Do you accept?]

[Accept]

[Accept]

”Of course.”

Kaiser leaned closer.

”Again?”

”Yeah, gotta go, boss is calling.”

Celine frowned before asking, ”What does that mean?”

”It means give me a moment.”

Ludwig selected the first [Accept], causing his vision to vanish. The ruined canyon disappeared around him, and every sound faded from existence.

For one instant, nothing existed around Ludwig. Then the world returned.

He stood upon a familiar platform surrounded by darkness. Behind the throne before him flowed the incomprehensibly vast river of souls, carrying endless spirits through Necros’s domain on their journey from life into death.

Necros sat upon his throne of bones above everything. The God of Death remained concealed beneath the same enormous veil, leaving only the massive skull exposed. A crown formed from pale bone rested atop his head while soul-fire burned within the empty sockets.

Ludwig lowered his gaze toward the figures arranged around the throne. Pride remained beneath Necros’s feet, transformed into a footrest after once attempting to place himself above all existence.

Wrath rested beneath Necros’s left arm. The soul of the Wrathful Death remained trapped beneath the elbow of the being it had once defied, reduced forever to supporting another.

Envy occupied the opposite side as another armrest and another humiliation. Ludwig had begun noticing a pattern in the way Necros reclaimed the Usurpers, because the God of Death always made a point through their punishments.

Then Ludwig noticed the new soul floating between them. It was enormous and completely white, and he recognized Malakar immediately despite the absence of flesh.

There was something strangely calm about the soul. It offered no resistance or screams as it floated before the God of Death.

Necros looked toward Ludwig before speaking.

”You have once again rendered me great service.”

Ludwig bowed his head slightly. ”I’m starting to think you owe me a raise.”

Necros ignored that and moved one gigantic skeletal hand. Malakar’s soul rose into his palm while Ludwig watched with interest.

Wrath had become an armrest, Envy had suffered a similar humiliation, and Pride had been placed beneath Necros’s feet.

Each punishment reflected the Authority of the condemned Usurper. Wrath remained eternally suppressed, Envy was forced into passivity while another possessed what it wanted, and Pride existed forever beneath someone greater.

Ludwig wondered what punishment Necros had prepared for Sloth. He waited expectantly, but the God of Death did nothing.

Several seconds passed while Malakar’s massive soul remained inside the skeletal hand. Necros continued staring at it until Ludwig finally raised an eyebrow.

”What’s the problem?”

The soul-fire inside Necros’s skull flickered before his voice rolled through the domain. ”Among the Usurpers...”

He paused briefly before finishing, ”...this is the one I dislike the least.”

Ludwig blinked. ”That is quite the statement.”

Necros remained silent, leaving Ludwig to question him further. ”You dislike him the least?”

”Yes.”

”Then why did you tell me to kill him?”

Necros’s gaze shifted toward Ludwig as the entire domain trembled beneath the weight of his response. ”He stole Death.”

The words rolled across the darkness surrounding them.

Necros continued, ”He deserved Death.”

”Fair enough.”

Ludwig looked toward Malakar’s soul before asking, ”What did he do?”

Necros raised one hand. ”See for yourself.”

The platform disappeared as Ludwig’s vision stretched and darkness folded inward. Light returned around him a moment later, revealing a battlefield beneath a gray sky.