Chapter 37 #3
Drae and Stacey looked at me with pleading eyes.
I wondered after the meeting how long Abbadon had them strung up like that.
In the presence of the King of the Abyss, however, I could think of nothing beyond the overwhelming pressure of his presence.
He was so awe-inspiringly powerful. I was a candle flame, and he was all the roaring fires of hell.
I wasn’t even worthy of being compared to him.
“Byron of Zaglis,” Abaddon boomed, his voice carrying a permanent growl that seemed to vibrate the room. His fangs were longer than my fingers. “You’re shorter than I expected you to be.”
“Why did you summon me?”
“I have been informed that the cherubim made you an offer. It seemed appropriate that I provide the counter.”
I waited and listened.
“I had heard Byron of Zaglis was brash and loud, never afraid to offend a noble or two. Yet, you are so very quiet.”
He gave me a chance to reply and frowned when I didn’t. If Abaddon was hoping for a show where I hurled enraged insults or fell to my knees and begged for my life, he wasn’t going to get it.
“Very well,” he said after a while. “By now, you know that it was a mistake to challenge my sovereignty. You conquered men and believed yourself strong, only to learn that the lives of men are to me what summer flies are to you. Buzz, buzz, little nuisance. You’re about to be crushed.”
“Do you actually have an offer?”
“The cherubim are petty creatures. 100,000 years to be followed by your execution? 20,000 years, and you become a warrior slave for the celestials? These aren’t offers. They are insults, offered only to inspire fear and anger for their entertainment. I, however, am a pragmatist.”
He tugged on a chain, and one of the liluti lifted a dick the length and width of my forearm from between Abaddon’s legs and began to lick.
“You might be a human, but you slayed the Gol-Gol brothers. The Forgotten One believed you were an easy meal, and you eluded her with ease. Besting the Frozen Fiend is less of a surprise, but regardless of his intelligence, he is leagues stronger than you. At the same time, you’ve established an empire fashioned so expertly that humans don’t realize it is you they pray to you. Is any of this incorrect?”
I shook my head.
“I propose that you bend the knee to me, and I will make you my viceroy of the material plane. If you serve me faithfully, I will see that you are rewarded.”
“Just like that?”
“Indeed. Since you will become my property, I will have claim to all that you possess. Your women will be brought to the abyss for my pleasure, and you will redesign Sanctuary South to pay homage to my greatness. Where celestials wish to imprison you for 20,000 years, I believe 1,000 is sufficient for your contrition.”
That was a terrible offer, but he was right that it was far better than what the cherubim offered me.
“And the rewards you speak of?” I asked.
“I have gone to great lengths to acquire the soul of Tad of Borja from the underworld. I believe your rudimentary understanding of the universe is enough to grasp how remarkable this action really is. If you serve me well, I will give you his soul to do with as you wish.”
Bile burned the back of my throat. I didn’t consider Byron of Zaglis to be Tad’s son.
I had moved on from that life and left my guilt behind with it.
Though I didn’t respect or miss Tad, I still loved him.
I still believed him to be a good man who tried his best. He did nothing to deserve having his very soul turned into a bargaining chip.
Abaddon knew that this was no reward. This was simple extortion.
“I am generous, am I not?” Abaddon asked, his grin filled with sharp teeth.
“My understanding of that word must be different from yours.”
“Oh, Byron. Now is no time to be a sore loser. If dear old daddy isn’t motivating, I’ll let you have one of your wives. I will retrain her properly first, naturally, but you can have her back when I’m done.”
Everything in me wanted to shout and curse, to spit and piss on the name of Abaddon, but I had to remember I was outclassed. This could be my only chance at a fate better than an eternity of torture, if I wasn’t able to kill myself first, that is.
“May my human mind have time to think on your offer?”
“Ha! What do humans say, fortune favors the bold? I expected more decisiveness from Byron of Zaglis.”
I held my tongue.
“Is that really all you have to say to me?” he asked.
“I didn’t choose to oppose you,” I replied. “The system decided that for me when it upgraded my class and my aspect. Threatening your kingdom was never an interest of mine.”
“The system is an unusual force, is it not? We have thousands upon thousands of books about the nature of magic and how it can be captured and manipulated, but no being has yet to explain how the system works. We know what it does, but we don’t manipulate it.
The system manipulates us. I, on the other hand, know the truth. ”
I waited for him to tell me.
Abaddon sighed. “You bore me. You have 72 hours to accept or decline my offer.”
Then I was back in my room in Sanctuary. If I forfeited everything I had, Abaddon would let me live.
What kind of choice was this? I could fight Abaddon and lose. I could bow to him and serve him for eternity. Or I could put one of Podni’s bombs in my mouth and blow myself to tiny, irrecoverable pieces.