Shadow of the Abyss

Duty, the word itself, portrayed Thanatos so well that it seemed to embody the man.

His gaze broke when the shadow of his bannerman vanished.

"I wonder what could make him truly smile."

Reina gave a toothy grin. "A woman, of course. Find the right one, and I\'m sure that mask of his might break."

Altair wondered. There was truth in her words. More so than he liked to admit as he realized how dependent he was on her to keep his sanity.

"I\'m going to go visit Lyain. She a bit injured," Syris was quick to say, hurrying out of the throne room, her chest still reeling from the mark of the incubus.

Altair paid her no mind but found himself quite enthralled by the young lady smiling his way.

"I\'m glad you\'re awake; you had us worried." Ren brushed Altair\'s hair from out of his face. "But how could you come to court looking all ragged. Have you no shame?"

"My woman wasn\'t there to dress me. What did you expect?"

The young wolf narrowed her eyes dangerously. "if only the gods weren\'t all watching."

The Prince laughed, gave her left tit a flick, and watched the redness take over her cheeks before taking her by the arm. "Screw the Gods. Come, let\'s see the little kiddos. Thanatos said food and water had been prepared for them; all that\'s required is someone to organize homes for them in the Serpents Outreach."

"Aurora?".

Altair nodded. "That\'s our best bet, but… we\'ve someone else with quite the experience. I\'ll have him do it."

Ren looked intrigued. "who?"

"Cedric… quite the fucked up individual there. I thought I killed a lot of people. But he is a true psychopath. An effective one at that." A little hesitant to say any more, he changed the subject.

"You saw Hilda or Vaiga yet?"

"Art… have you noticed there is a growing number of women surrounding you? Literally Talia, Aurora, Nia, Alyssa, now Hilda and Vaiga… It all feels a little sus. Are you secretly building a harem or something?"

"hmm. That\'s not a bad idea," he said, gauging Ren\'s reaction, but to his surprise, she merely continued to lead him into the eastern wing of the palace and down towards the servant\'s quarters.

"Liar." she finally said, turning to him with her golden eyes. "but Ren would forgive you."

A little caught off guard, Altair\'s expression turned a little dark as he thought, "Is she trying to test me or insult my Integrity."

"I—"

Ren gave him a look that made him eat his words. "come there right through these doors."

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Approaching a large doorway nearly ten meters tall, Ren pushed it.

The first thing that struck the prince was the acrid scent of hot piss wafting out of the door.

"What the hell is this?"

"ren-ren!" came a bright, doe-eyed little girl waddling forward with a bright smile. She leaped up towards Ren, wrapping her arms around her chest.

"Anne!" Said Ren, grinning.

"Ah, your back," Hilda shouted, carrying for two infants. To her rear, Vaiga stood within one of the quarters, tending to an entire litter of infants barely a few months old.

The entire quarter was filled with children of all ages standing in their waste. Many of their eyes were red, crying for their mothers and fathers. Numerous were covered in dried blood or huddled together, balls traumatized.

"Altair?!" Hilda shouted in surprise when her expression quickly turned to rage. "You bastard!"

Leaping forward with children in her arms, she sent a kick to his face. Altair opened his Spirit Domain and suddenly felt an unnatural sense of harmony envelope him. As his movements became reactionary, he glided beneath Hilda, twirling around her, catching her like a little princess.

Hilda turned so red she found herself so taken back the thought of rushing out his arms dissipated.

"Careful," Altair said, putting her down on her two feet. "Children aren\'t as tough as you think." he pointed to the little boy in her arms, gathering large globs of tears. "You nearly snapped his neck."

"You got strong," Hilda muttered.

Altair grinned, closing the Spirit Domain before the headaches began.

"And you got a tattoo." She added, pointing towards the mark between the boy\'s brow.

"What tattoo?" Ren chimed in, circling her prince to see the strange sigil. "Eh? That\'s the Band of the Incubus. How\'d it materialize?"

"Well, it did merge with my physique, so it\'s not all that strange that\'ll appear," Altair said, though he was a little taken aback. And he wondered, \'But why did it appear now? I\'ve barely gotten the hang of my spirit domain. Could there be some unforeseen transient properties?\'

Ren hummed, looking up into her prince\'s eyes, and once again, Altair saw that glint of dismay.

\'I\'ll have to leave him soon,\' Ren thought, forcing a smile, and she said, "Well, it looks cute. It suits you. And your ashen hair. Should we start calling you the Ashen Prince?"

Sensing he was missing something, something he couldn\'t quite remember, the boy turned away for now, focusing his eyes on the approaching Vaiga.

"You killed Cedric."

"Cedric is very much alive… He\'s merely sleeping, Admiral." Altair said, studying how disheveled she looked right now. He nearly thought she was homeless.

"Anyway, I\'ll handle the rest," Altair continued, opening up a Portal towards the Serpents Outreach. He snapped, and all the crying, all the pain, and sorrow seemed to vanish beneath the [Eyes of Sacrilege].

As far as his eyes could take him, those that fell under his eyes became calm and motionless, from children to infants, all of them still, their wills, wants, and desires twisting into what Altair demanded.

"Single file line!"

And like mindless dolls, those that could walk made for the portal one by one in an orderly line.

Vaiga and Hilda stumbled back, their stance growing slightly guarded. Thoughts spun into a panic as they wondered if they were under some sort of trance. They wondered if they were beneath his spell beneath his thrall.

"Get naked," Altair commanded them as their eyes turned to fire in but a moment.

"Piss off!" Hilda snapped, her fist clenching into tight balls.

"See? If you were beneath my thrall, would you react like this?" Altair grinned, amused by their guarded stance. He chuckled and began scanning the docile children one by one.

"You can control people?"

"I can manipulate people," Altair responded. He glanced at Vaiga, sensing a faint shimmer of a sword shrouding the flesh. It was faint, nearly absent of power, yet it was enough to place him on guard. "Does that frighten you?"

Vaiga studied the boy, and her palm slipped towards the longsword at her hip before it fell. "Have you used that power on us?"

"I have not," he said. "Never saw the need, too. Although…\' and a hue of Vale Qi dangerously curled around the pupils like solar flares," If you should prove to be an issue. I might be forced to take action."

Vaiga swallowed hard, glancing down at the puppets being herded into a lands unknown. She hesitated before a long sigh escaped her.

"I trust you. But I want you to explain to me what is going on. And truly, what are you?"

Altair smiled. "I\'ll tell you as much as I know." And he thought, \'But I\'ll only tell you enough to get the most out of you.\'

***

Within the medical bay, Altair found himself suspended in a state of deep thought. In his palm, Shadowclaw stood horizontal from one knee to the other as he sat in the lotus position.

And in the following moments, a pulse echoed from the void, an ethereal domain expanded from out of the boy\'s spirit, and with it, a fundamental understanding of all that was within his domain.

From past to present, from dust to dawn, echoes of history came and went through his mind, fading to nothing as the domain died.

"Knowledge I acquire within my domain isn\'t retained when it fades."

Once more, his domain surfaced, but this time, Altair saw to use simple arithmetic to solve a basic math problem before he closed the domain. He was startled to see that the knowledge remained.

"It will seem that knowledge I manifest on my own is retained. Ok, so let\'s consider all knowledge acquired by my domain to exist within my subconscious. Something I can\'t touch. Is it possible for me to manifest segments of that knowledge?"

With a smile, Altair once more began a new sort of training not even Thanatos considered. For nearly a day and a half, the boy began to play with not just his Spirit Domain but the Realm of Spirits, seeking to understand his limits by pushing himself to heights he never thought possible.

Altair shook, seeking enlightenment towards not the heavens but himself, for what lay within his blood, he knew, would dominate the very Heavens above him.