The sounds of battle reached my ears, echoing from down the hall as Miriel sprinted into the room. She slammed the door shut behind her and then turned towards me, fear and resolve mingling in her eyes.
“They’ve breached the keep. I don’t know how many of our men are left, but it doesn’t matter. There’s a never-ending sea of orcs waiting for their turn to spill blood, we couldn’t beat them if half the kingdom were here.”
“I have something better than half the kingdom.” I closed my eyes and began to mumble incantations, ignoring her as she insisted that even my magic couldn’t possibly be enough to hold the western front against the greenskins.
There was pounding on the door as Miriel turned away from me and drew her sword, ready to face the onslaught. A huge orc with a battleaxe bust through the door and was immediately decapitated by the trusty knight. I tuned it all out as I screamed out the final words of the rite.
“Infernus, aeterne dominus belli, vocatus adesto. Ferrum trahe quod quinque dominos ad calcem magni daemonis attulit, et accende flammas quae patrem tuum in cineres verterunt. Procedite, Acerith!”
The castle shimmered and fell away, disappearing like a mirage. Me and Miriel were lifted into the sky like eagles on the warm updraft of the sea of flame spreading beneath us. There was no smoke, and the flame’s light was dim, yet it spread and consumed all. Hundreds of thousands of hardened warriors screamed silent calls to demons that would not dare to answer in Acerith’s presence, screaming until their throats were raw and not making as much sound as the songbirds in the trees.
“This is impossible! Miriel gasped, “no mortal could ever hold dominion over a demon powerful enough to do something like this!”
“I don’t need to hold dominion. He comes of his own accord.” The flame spread across the mountainside and consumed all those who would harm me, then was suddenly snuffed out, leaving a thick layer of ash that made the mountains look as if they were carved from obsidian. Simply by his willing it, the fort was reformed and Miriel was lowered to the ground while I was placed upon the keep’s tower. Acerith appeared beside me.
“Oh demon lord, I’ve been dying for a damned breather!” He tried to lean against the tower’s balcony, but it only came up to his waist and he ended up sitting on it instead.
“How’s the war been treating you?”
“It’s the same as it has been for eternity, the other demons can’t seem to put together that a bunch of immortals fighting serves absolutely zero purpose! They still act like decapitating each other is an actual victory and not a momentary delay!”
“Damn. How’ve things been with your father?”
“Don’t even get me started on my father! Every day he repeats the same bullshit about how if we joined forces we’d be able to end the Great War, then starts trying to gore me! He doesn’t seem to realize that stabbing me isn’t a convincing argument! I wish you summoned me more often, this is the first time in two years I’ve had more than a minute between challengers.”
“I know, and I would if I could, but the stupid contract specifically says I can only call you in my darkest hour. That doesn’t exactly come up often you know.”
“You need to piss off some more dragons, or infiltrate another cult to the Incomprehensible Ones. I’m gonna go crazy if I don’t get out of hell at least once in the next year. Ooh, I know, you need to visit another one of those elven bars!”
“That was ONE DAMN TIME! I was DRUNK! It’s not like I’m going to accidentally flirt with the queen TWICE!”
Acerith bust out laughing, but suddenly stopped as he began to fade away. He tried to say his goodbyes, but he was already beyond my hearing, and so we waved as the cosmos dragged him back to hell’s eternal battlefield. It would probably be some time before we met again, but I figured I might as well make an effort. At the dawn I set off for the coast, hoping that the rumors of kraken were true and that I could call him again.
Alone_Spell9525 t1_j0rhpqr wrote
Reply to [WP] You are a warlock who has formed a pact with a powerful demon. The times that you summon your demon are the only solace they receive from a long and brutal war that rages within their home plane. by lordhelmos
The sounds of battle reached my ears, echoing from down the hall as Miriel sprinted into the room. She slammed the door shut behind her and then turned towards me, fear and resolve mingling in her eyes.
“They’ve breached the keep. I don’t know how many of our men are left, but it doesn’t matter. There’s a never-ending sea of orcs waiting for their turn to spill blood, we couldn’t beat them if half the kingdom were here.”
“I have something better than half the kingdom.” I closed my eyes and began to mumble incantations, ignoring her as she insisted that even my magic couldn’t possibly be enough to hold the western front against the greenskins.
There was pounding on the door as Miriel turned away from me and drew her sword, ready to face the onslaught. A huge orc with a battleaxe bust through the door and was immediately decapitated by the trusty knight. I tuned it all out as I screamed out the final words of the rite.
“Infernus, aeterne dominus belli, vocatus adesto. Ferrum trahe quod quinque dominos ad calcem magni daemonis attulit, et accende flammas quae patrem tuum in cineres verterunt. Procedite, Acerith!”
The castle shimmered and fell away, disappearing like a mirage. Me and Miriel were lifted into the sky like eagles on the warm updraft of the sea of flame spreading beneath us. There was no smoke, and the flame’s light was dim, yet it spread and consumed all. Hundreds of thousands of hardened warriors screamed silent calls to demons that would not dare to answer in Acerith’s presence, screaming until their throats were raw and not making as much sound as the songbirds in the trees.
“This is impossible! Miriel gasped, “no mortal could ever hold dominion over a demon powerful enough to do something like this!”
“I don’t need to hold dominion. He comes of his own accord.” The flame spread across the mountainside and consumed all those who would harm me, then was suddenly snuffed out, leaving a thick layer of ash that made the mountains look as if they were carved from obsidian. Simply by his willing it, the fort was reformed and Miriel was lowered to the ground while I was placed upon the keep’s tower. Acerith appeared beside me.
“Oh demon lord, I’ve been dying for a damned breather!” He tried to lean against the tower’s balcony, but it only came up to his waist and he ended up sitting on it instead.
“How’s the war been treating you?”
“It’s the same as it has been for eternity, the other demons can’t seem to put together that a bunch of immortals fighting serves absolutely zero purpose! They still act like decapitating each other is an actual victory and not a momentary delay!”
“Damn. How’ve things been with your father?”
“Don’t even get me started on my father! Every day he repeats the same bullshit about how if we joined forces we’d be able to end the Great War, then starts trying to gore me! He doesn’t seem to realize that stabbing me isn’t a convincing argument! I wish you summoned me more often, this is the first time in two years I’ve had more than a minute between challengers.”
“I know, and I would if I could, but the stupid contract specifically says I can only call you in my darkest hour. That doesn’t exactly come up often you know.”
“You need to piss off some more dragons, or infiltrate another cult to the Incomprehensible Ones. I’m gonna go crazy if I don’t get out of hell at least once in the next year. Ooh, I know, you need to visit another one of those elven bars!”
“That was ONE DAMN TIME! I was DRUNK! It’s not like I’m going to accidentally flirt with the queen TWICE!”
Acerith bust out laughing, but suddenly stopped as he began to fade away. He tried to say his goodbyes, but he was already beyond my hearing, and so we waved as the cosmos dragged him back to hell’s eternal battlefield. It would probably be some time before we met again, but I figured I might as well make an effort. At the dawn I set off for the coast, hoping that the rumors of kraken were true and that I could call him again.