The lurker prowled across the top of the building. It had eatehat night. The creature it had hunted was suct, tasty, the faint flicker of mana within making the meal all the more nourishing. It would grow stronger with each kill, wiser, every correct decision aep towards something more than it could prehend. It redator and this dusty, dry, unfiving nd of stone buildings aal beasts was its domain. It had existed for weeks now, the days of mindlessness a blur to its ever sharpening mind. It had been cautious, avoiding the powerful creatures that wielded strange forces its primitive mind could barely prehend.
Now it had a pack, six hounds to do its bidding. Soon more would join. It only had to survive.
A st caught its nostrils, a sweet st. It raised its head from withial der it had found as its new home. Once filled with water, it was now a ir for it and its pack to rest in fortable seclusiohey would recover after every hunt and grow strong as the lifegiving mana in the air slowly strengthehem, healed their wounds, and aided in ging delicious flesh into something more. It cmbered to its feet, its body healthy and hale, and g the pack that raised their heads to aowledge its dominance. With a gesture and a growl it ahem, it was time to hunt again.
Out through the opening on the roof while the others slipped through the hole it had carved itom. It alighted atop the der and looked dowhe vast nd beyond. The tall structures were dusted with the sand of the desert beyond it. It she air again, there, that sweet st. An alieo it, not on its life had it smelled su odor. Yet beh the st was aantalizing, a deep well of mana that cried out to it, begging to be ed. This feast alone could give it such power if only it could have a taste. Perhaps, perhaps it could beore than a mere lurker. Something greater.
It leaped from the top of its ir and alighted on the building in utter silence, a viotion of natural ws as its lumbering bulk left not even a cra the ground. It moved forward and peered over the side of the building. There, walking alone in the darkereet, a single creature with a brown ma wore bd carried naught but a box of some kind hanging from its right hand. The lurker tilted its head and sniffed again. Oh that smell, delicious. It ached to taste it, to feast, it o more than anything in the world. It was a pulsion, an instinct.
It g its pad o them. They would bring the feast to it so that it would not have to risk its own life. Their lips pulled ba hungry snarls before they threw themselves off the side, heedless, their simple minds nothing pared to its growing wisdom. They did not uand danger or risk, not like it did. They alighted on the ground behind the creature with barks and snarls, dashing forward to secure its prize while it stepped back to return to its ir.
“Sit.”
The one word was like a and from the heavens above, from within the very core of its being, the word resonated and gripped at something so deep and primal that it could not begin to resist. It, like the others, sat down on the ground. It’s simple mind tried to process it, tried to uand, tried to ceive of what was gripping so tightly at the very deepest parts of its being. Yet the lurker was still a beast, even in its growing wisdom, it did not know. It roared in defiand pushed itself back to its feet, a and to the others to rise again and kill the small thing that hid its threat so easily. It cmbered to the side once more and looked down and a pair of red eyes met it.
“Break.”
The lurker did not uand how it died.
–
Mephisto brushed his hair bad g the twisted corpses of the hounds that had tried to surround him. Every limb had been snapped ahe wrong way, their heads pulled to the sides and their jaws cracked open, their eyes had burst and their skin had been turned against flesh, partially peeled. He sniffed and shrugged befng down at his watch. Barely a few seds but still a mild invenien his schedule. He shifted his grip on his briefcase and took a few powered steps forward, crossing a few blocks in as mabeats. He moved like a ghost, seeming to disappear and reappear with each step, from an outsider his body looked as if it twitched with eading.
Ba schedule, He thought and resumed his casual walk.
He didn’t stop walking until he arrived at the office building he was looking for. A pair of guards armed with guns stood outside and immediately turheir ons on him as he approached. He brandished his best smile when he drew near, “I’m here to see the Spice King,” Mephisto said with a small curtsey, “He’s expeg me.”
The two men g one another before pointing their guns at him again. Mephisto’s smile grew wider as he ged nguages, “I wouldn’t do that. Your boss would be very upset if you died, I imagine.”
They froze and Mephisto smiled wider, “Tell your boss the dealmaker is here.”
One of them got on his radio and said a few quick words, he tensed and then nodded before stepping aside, quickly opening the doors for Mephisto. The vilin wi him before stepping through, “Thank you, handsome,” He said and proceeded inside.
Uhe rather berior, the interior ce of luxury. Gardens maintaihrough water pumps and sor mps built into the light fixtures above made it look like paradise. With the blue ceiling it was hard to even differentiate it from the outside. Ahead of him a gold elevator opened and a man hurried out, he wore a crisp suit and appeared to be in his te teens at best. Perhaps even youhan little Bckrazor. Mephisto stopped and waited for the young man to approach, “Master Mephisto, my father is expeg you,” He said quickly, bowing once.
Mephisto’s lip twitched, “Whie are you?”
“Saleh, Master Mephisto.”
“The you, you just came of age, did you awaken?” Mephisto asked, walking past him towards the elevator.
“I did, Master Mephisto. Heroic, my father is quite proud,” The young man said, falling into step with him.
“He wanted me to see you, your father is such a fun man,” Mephisto quipped as they ehe elevator, “Your brothers must be jealous.”
Saleh cleared his throat, “They have their own s, Master Mephisto.”
“I’m sure they do, are there still twenty six of you?” Mephisto asked as the elevator rose.
“Twenty four, Master Mephisto,” Saleh said with a solemn tone, “Such is the way of things in our family.”
“Far be it from me to judge how a man raises his sons,” Mephisto tittered out a ugh as the door opened and they stepped out into what was basically a throne room. A sih stretched out ahead of them made of marble and decorative ns li. Between the ns and fag inward were twenty three young men of various ages that looked towards Mephisto with various expressions. Some open disgust, others hatred, a few curiosity. Two, though, had very different looks. Oo the left of the throne showed open lust, and to the right showed nothing at all. Only eyes of steel.
“Your eldest brht be hard to beat,” Mephisto murmured as the young man moved quickly to stand in lih the others. He turned his attention to the throne and the mountainous man sitting on it.
The Spice King was young, he looked not much older than his sons. Bck hair worn almost wet on his head curled in just the right ways and matched his thick bck beard well. He had a broad chest and powerful arms that looked as if they could crack der blocks with a gesture. His skin glittered slightly, powdered with gold no doubt. He broke out into a wide smile as the dark figure stepped out into his glittering golden domain.
“The Great Dealmaker of Ishtar returns!” He barked, opening his arms wide, “Wele, Mephisto.”
Mephisto went into a low, pyful bow before flig his head up to make eye tact with the man, “Mistress Isthar sends her warmest greetings to the Spice King.”
“The God-Queen of Vilins is a magnanimous one, sending her best all this way,” The Spice King said, sitting back down, “I have a feast and a det room prepared for you, as always.”
“You’re too kind,” Mephisto said before standing up straight, “Before all the fun and games, why don’t we get to business?”
The golden-skinned man leaned forward a his elbows on his knees, “Yes. I have a few things in mind that I’m sure she will be ied in.”
