15 Death’s Laughter

Valerian was sweating. He felt a familiar presence in the world.

"I knew you were still alive." He said. "One of us will have to die so that the other can live."

He had finished his meeting with Marie Von Windsor and was preparing to decide what was best for him to do that day.

Then he felt it. Apollo, Artemis, the Praetorians and Valerian all felt it. They looked West and knew that a fragment of the Traveller was active.

"Apollo, Artemis, our stay in this kingdom has been cut short. Leave this place and prepare for my return."

Apollo and Artemis could not argue with the Will of the Absolute Being but they also could not hide their dejected expressions.

If they were ranked seriously they would be at the peak of rank [S+] but they could not even face the Traveller.

They wanted to aid their Lord even if it meant their own death but they would only be a hindrance against the being that was the catalyst of the Fall of the Lord's Empire.

The last time the Lord fought the Traveller, he almost died. The followers of Valerian almost lost their soul, their Dark and Radiant Star.

They knew that he was not at his peak, not even close and now he had to face the entity that wounded him in the first place.

Valerian could see their emotions. He could see their mana fluctuations and knew the reason.

"Fear not, my adored servants. I will return. I am weaker than I was but so is the Traveller. It focuses not on recovering but on playing this sick game continuously till either one or both of our lights are extinguished.

"This is the fate of powerful beings but I am the Lord of All things in this world, I do not adhere to Fate. This is only a soul fragment of the Traveller. I will fight this piece and actually have a good workout while doing it."

Valerian smiled brightly and rested his hands on both their shoulders.

His words had been transmitted to the Praetorian Guards as well and when he put his gloved hands reassuringly on Apollo and Artemis, they all felt his touch and it felt like bliss had caressed their soul.

Valerian walked to the terrace, still smiling but a little worried. He had not finished removing the poison from his body.

He removed his coat and it flew over the balcony then disappeared into a purple portal. He took a deep breath then the wind began to rise.

Valerian's hair danced in the wind and pointed west, his body began to relax and fade as if pieces of him were being pulled by the torrents.

He turned his head west and floated a few inches off the ground and he was gone with the wind.

*****

All over the world there was chaos. The statues of the god of trickery, Loki, had been crying golden blood for three hours then suddenly shattered.

All the priests of his church had fallen into dispair and madness. They killed anyone who came near them, claiming that the voice in their head kept telling them to abandon all hope, showed them gruesome images of death and pain.

They could not handle it long and began to kill themselves as well. Soldiers of Loki's church fought each other till there were none left. Blood flowed in the temples. Blood flowed in the streets.

Only kingdoms that did not have temples of Loki were spared this insane bloodshed.

*****

{The Underworld}

Thirty beings were gathered. They were dressed in fine robes and crowns and stood two meters tall.

Each one radiated an aura that was primal and fierce but before the throne of Death himself, they were all humbled.

One lone figure, shrouded in black, icy mist, three meters in height, sat on an obsidian throne with his face and hand covered by a heavy, grey and black robe.

He did not wear jewellery. He had no crown. His aura let you know that this was death.

The one that reaped all because all things die and when this universe came to it's end then death would reap it's soul too. The oldest saying in those who followed the god Hades, was "Death comes to All."

"Lord Hades!" One of the beings called out. It was a woman in a gown made of flower petals, thornes and vines. "That invader is back in this world. We must act!"

That was the reason they had all come to the Underworld. All higher beings hated it there.

They were immortal, but even they could die and being so close to Death reminded them of that fact.

In the Underworld, before Death's throne, immortal, Celestial, divine or even Primordial, all felt mortal in that place.

But the Primordial gods had to come here. The Traveller's presence had been felt. Twenty Primordials would be able to fight it but one or two of them would fall and the match would be a draw, Hades was needed.

The strongest of the Primordials, even older than the one who commanded Life.

When Life came into existence, Death was already waiting.

"We? Act? Why did you all not act when you saw that one of your descendants was in possession of a fragment of the Traveller's soul?" The voice came from the throne.

It was imposing and firm yet also lacked interest and emotion.

The Primordial gods gritted their teeth.

They knew why. They had been negligent of their duties. They had passed on degraded versions of their divinities to create smaller divine dominions that created the other gods.

They had shed off their own responsibilities and did as they pleased. Some slept, others created new worlds and the rest stayed in their realms.

"The Traveller is here! We can debate this stuff later. We need to fight this threat before He..." a god shrouded in light stopped speaking. He made a mistake. He was so frustrated and scared that he, a Primordial being had made a mistake.

"Oh..." Hades made a sound of understanding. "I finally see. You are panicked because of the promise you made to the godsbane."

The very mention of the accord struck between the Primordial gods and the Ancient Devourer made them shake.

"I helped all of you create smaller, degraded abilities to give your descendants in the hopes that if you had less responsibility you could help hunt and destroy the fragments.

"You, the Primordial god of Good, I helped you make the divinties of Kindness, Healing, Medicine. You, of Order, I gave you Justice, Tranquility, Safety. You, Evil, I gave you Murder, Theft, Massacre. All of you gathered here, except Chaos, I aided you in the hopes of making things easier but you squandered that gift.

"And now the godsbane is awakened. The original demon lord. You now remember the promise, you also remember his theat and the threat of the Traveller so now you cower like children rushing to finish their chores before daddy comes home."

Hades began laughing. He could not help but laugh. It was quite amusing to him.

The gods began to sweat. Death had put everything into perspective and it sounded even worse now.

"Will you help us or not?!" One of the gods asked in anger. A very small part of him hoped that Hades would kill him for his disrespect but Death did not act.

The Primordial gods would rather deal with the hands of Death who was known to be merciful and quick while the godsbane was known for slow and horrific atrocities when angered.

Hades turned his head suddenly. He then began to chuckle then turned his face back to the gods in front of him.

"I fear you are too late, my dear Primordials. He who commands even Death, the godsbane, Lord Valerian is on his way to face the Seed."

"Dammit..." one of the gods said.

"If we go now, we can fight the Seed and if we defeat it, perhaps, renegotiate our lives with Him." another said.

Hades began to laugh anew but then twenty beams of light shot out of the Underworld rushing to the location of the Seed, hoping to make it there before Valerian. The sound of Death's laughter kept ringing in their ears.