Malum was holding back tears as he looked down on the gathered thousands in the square, as he thought of the millions waiting for him to speak again, as he thought of how to word the speech of a lifetime.
A vein was pulsating in the man’s neck, as he worked his partially inorganic jaw...were his teeth even real?
“When I was a boy, I heard the voice of Æonex the Tormentor in my mind constantly, telling me how weak I was and just what he could grant me. One day, enchanted as I was, I listened.”
Everyone was under the hypnotic influence of the Earl now.
“He wanted Earl Preen and Countess Calliope out of the way, so I took a dagger and killed them in their sleep for the glory of Æonex. This was the first of my crimes against Narciss, and it all went downhill from there. The Night of the Ashes was not born from my mind nor did I want to carry it out, that woman I called Countess and god I called master for far too long forced me to order the deaths of hundreds of thousands.”
The tears escaped from his eyes and rolled down his cheek, the skin greedily absorbing the sudden moisture.
“Æonex the Tormentor has told no other about the fourth, of the Æbyssal Tetrarchy because they art deceased. Æyro the Hammer, known publicly as Khani and then Khatun Enyo Esrrin and to the Covenant as the Herald of the Æbyss.”
A huge plume of oily back smoke spews from a fissure opening directly in front of the terminally ill man leaking secrets in the same manner that a broken drain may leak water. The fissure vibrates at great speeds, and its great heat causes the air to shimmer attractively.
The tall and lanky entity emerging from it is anything but attractive. It is the same shade of stony dark grey as the famous brimstone quarried near Ashfyre Reach by the Anocratic Union of Fire. He was emaciated to such a degree that he looked half skeletal with that emphasised ribcage. The entity is Æonex the Tormentor of the Æbyss, Oldest of the Triumvirate, Bringer of the Ætherical Pestilence, Withering of the World, and Void God of Suffering, Disease, Death, and Evil. In short, that tall man is extremely, undeniably, NOT good in the slightest for everyone there.
“Malum 𐐀𐑀𐐬, 𐐓𐐶𐐯𐑊𐑁𐑃 𐐊𐑉𐑊 Narcina, 𐑄𐐵 𐐪𐑉𐐻 𐐼𐐭𐐮𐑍 𐐩 𐑊𐐪𐐻 𐑋𐐬𐑉 𐑄𐐰𐑌 𐐬𐑂𐐲𐑉𐑅𐐻𐐯𐐹𐐮𐑍 𐑄𐐴 𐐺𐐵𐑌𐐼𐑆....𐐮𐑌 𐑁𐐰𐐿𐐻, 𐑄𐐴 𐐷𐐭𐑅𐑁𐐲𐑊𐑌𐐯𐑅 𐐸𐐰𐑆 𐐮𐐿𐑅𐐹𐐴𐐲𐑉𐐼. 𐐑𐐲𐑉𐐸𐐰𐐹𐑅 𐑄 𐑅𐐮𐑅𐐻𐐲𐑉 𐐮𐑆 𐑌𐐪𐐻 𐐩 𐐼𐐴𐐮𐑍 𐑇𐐯𐑊?” Hissed the god in a voice part silk and part poison, he spoke in the tongue of the void, before repeating it in Empyrean Basic.
“Malum Ego, Twelfth Earl Narcina, thou art doing a lot more than overstepping thy bounds thy usefulness has expired. Perhaps the sister is not a dying shell?” Æonex said. Everyone understood his words this time.
Malum stared a god in the eye and then turned to the Valkyries at his sides. “Belarsar....Kleiner...Wheel me off.”
Rainer Ölŕun Valkyries looked at the General and then at each other. Technically the Earl’s word was law, but it was punishable by the very worst torture to kill a member of the House of Ego.
“Your Eminence...We simply can not-“
Malum said nothing and simply disconnected his oxygen mask after gulping deeply one last time.
Slowly, painfully, the Ætharch wheels himself off the balcony while his master screams unintelligible nonsense.
“No...NO.. NO. 𐐫𐐫𐐰𐐯𐐮𐐴𐑄𐑅𐑎y!”
Malum stopped just short of the drop and said into the microphone, “Remember....me for this...not...t-the..f-f-f..I.. fi-re... THE FIRE!”
The Earl fell forward with a mechanical scream.
There is a sickening crunch of far more bone than there should be, an infrasonic boom that shook the entire building.
Purple smoke shot out towards the former Earl’s Grand Vizier, Viscountess Victorine Elizabeth Ego of Valerium.
Everyone realised at once what was happening...
The Tormentor of the Æbyss wanted to anchor himself once more.
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