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Gunna, the leader of my people in this place I'd called Sanctuary, huffed at my side.
She'd been a valuable voice of reason for her short eighty years of life. To her, I still appeared perhaps twenty. This was something I'd been planning her entire life. It likely seemed like something she'd never actually expected to happen.
Truthfully, she'd spent the last forty years trying to dissuade me from my course. Though in the face of my preparations, the reality seemed to have settled. She'd never been anything but respectful, though she'd admittedly challenged me more than anyone else on the planet. She'd earned her place at the forefront of my people by questioning me when I'd needed it. My humans’ lives were so short, barely two hundred years, worse, in many parts of the world, but I was still intimidating and timeless to most.
“All preparations have been made, my Lady.” Gunna set her shoulders and lowered her voice. “Are you certain? I mean,Orcus?Must it be him? Surely one of the other?—“
“No.” I cut her off. The last thing I needed was to question my choices. “It must be him, I'm quite sure.” It was a query I'dwrestled with enough of my own. On the face of it, it seemed absurd. To submit myself to my greatest enemy.
And yet. I knew I must. No mortal could undertake the task of keeping me asleep, could keep me, no matter how I railed, from touching the world. While I'd certainly harmed his people the most, they were incapable of exacting my restitution, such as it was, and so he'd undertake it on their behalf.
In the brief moments I'd had to discuss it with him, I'd begun to worry that Orcus might not be quite as stern as I'd like, that he'd relent. But every other of the lesser gods would break long before he did.
He was my best option, whether I liked it or not.
Perhaps more concerning were the strange feelings that welled up inside me when I saw him without his cloak of shadows. Wrapped in them, it had been easy to make him my Dark Spectre, the terror of my nightmares. Without them, though he was still wickedness incarnate, I found the fear exhilarating.
Perhaps that was part of my punishment. I'd developed some sick fascination with the man I'd warred with for centuries. Now, I'd have to submit myself to his whims.
“It must be him.” We'd debated it at nauseum, and Gunna knew my mind. I refused to explain myself further.
With perhaps perfect timing, Orcus coalesced, his shadows wrapping around him once more.
“Leave us,” his voice rumbled through the cavern like thunder, rolling over me and caressing my insides until I shivered. A week ago, I'd have snapped at him for speaking in such a tone, but I needed to get used to his dominion, to trust his judgment.
So instead, I turned to Gunna and nodded. She held her hand out of me, then kissed her fingertips, settling it over her heart with silent tears running down her face.
Perhaps, if I was very good, Orcus would pass messages along for me.
Gunna stepped away, and in seconds, she disappeared. Orcus's shadows wrapped around us, and it struck me how odd it was to feel comforted by it. Instead of oppressive, they cocooned us, sheltering me from the outside world in a way I'd not experienced since the very beginning of my experiment.
Within his shadows, Orcus appeared as I'd come to know him, instead of the shadowy specter of my nightmares.
“I'll ask you again,” he said. “Is this truly what you want? Do you freely submit yourself to my dominion, to make me your lord and master in all things, of your own will?”
“I do.” I breathed. My entire body hummed with anticipation. A tether stretched between us. The oath we'd begun tugged me to him, though he could not extract such an agreement from me without reciprocation, our power imbalance, even now, too evenly matched.
“And you? Do you swear to ensure my punishment is enacted with the best interests of the world at heart, seeking restitution for those I've wronged and rehabilitation of your charge?” he said, his words whispering across my skin.
“I do.” The tether of our connection pulled tight, binding us together in a magic more ancient than even my mother's.
The corner of his mouth hitched in a smirk, making me shiver. The feeling zipped through me, stimulating and sensitizing myentire body. With a nod, he held out his hand and escorted me into the aquifer.
In Which Orders are Issued, Power is Exchanged, and a Bond Snaps into Place
The cool waterof the lake lapped at my naked feet and suddenly I realized how much larger than me Orcus was. To a human, I was a giant, towering over them. I'd grown so used to being in the position of power that I was entirely unfamiliar with the vulnerability I felt next to him.
His hand though, was sure and steady, gently leading me deeper until the light linen dress I wore clung to my body.
“This is a good location. Peaceful,” he noted. “Your body should be well protected here, though your mind will be with me.”
“Yes,” I whispered. I knew some of what to expect. We'd negotiated certain aspects of my captivity, some he'd insisted upon, a timeframe rather than an indefinite period, for example, and some that had been my idea, like ensuring there was a focus on my pain being productive.
We hadn't discussed what exactly I would endure, instead, we'd discussed a framework in which to work. Those I'd harmed by assigning them to the forces of evil had not had a choice as to what pain they'd receive by my orders. Orcus hadn't had a choice as to what pain he'd been forced to inflict. Even now, I wondered if he had a choice in this.
Soft fingers tipped with claws settled on my shoulders, and with a gentle nudge, he indicated that I should lie back. Vaguely, I was aware of how the wet dress clung to me, sheer with the water. I wanted to cover myself, lest he see my form. It was a silly worry, a silly realization. My body could appear however I liked, and it was not as if he was unfamiliar with the human form.
I floated atop the water, seeing past the craggy ceiling of the cavern, the stalactites that hung there, to the valley I'd created beyond. Out there, I knew, the villagers, my protectors, huddled in their thatched roof houses, were eating a somber feast in my honor. Their prayers, and their attention, would aid Orcus in harnessing my own power to initiate my ritual.
