Meeting of the Devils

The market place was busy, filled with life. People speaking with each other, buying and selling objects for coins. Entertainment stands for people to watch and enjoy as others performed, all of these things interested Soularous. He never had as much fun in Aeran unless he was in avatar form, and it would only last a month. He envied his brother's freedom, but he was more than willing to make sure he kept that freedom. Soularous looked at the nice clothing that this vessel had on before he made it into his avatar, plus the gold coins he had in the bag was plenty for Soularous to use, however once the month past he won't be able to keep anything he buys, but then again, this avatar won't have much use of this currency anyways. Brushing the hair out of his face, he moved through the market.

Soularous eventually stopped before a theater booth that told the ‘Frightening Tales of the Demon Lords of the Abyss. Soularous cracked a smile as he saw how poorly these mortals predicted how the demons looked. He watched as a puppet of a very fat bald green imp looking creature popped up, the woman telling the tales spoke. "Here is the disgusting Jynieth, the Lord of Deception." Soularous stifled a laugh. Jynieth was far from what these mortals pictured. For starters, the 'Lord' was actually a Mistress, and 'he' wasn't a he, but a she. Jynieth was far from fat, she was actually beautiful, but at the same time, horrifying. Which she had to be when she was the mix of a beautiful nymph and a fierce flying beast.

The speaker motioned back to the booth and out popped a puppet of a blue skinned ape with white fur, the ape had a large pair of horns and four teeth, "Here is the minor lord of fire, Soularous. A liar and a thief. Stealing things from the Gods and lying about his power. He actually has no true power." Soularous couldn't contain himself as he burst into laughter. The audience gave him a strange look, while the speaker raised a brow. "What's so funny sir?"

Soularous wiped tears from his eyes, "I apologize, I think it's hilarious how you depict these demon lords, no offense but all of these appearances are completely false. For starters, if I may?" He motioned a hand at her, the speaker allowed him in the booth. He cleared his throat, "Jynieth doesn't look like this, she would be insulted."

The speaker looked at him confused, "I'm sorry, she?"

Soularous smiled as he conjured an image of the true appearance of Jynieth, the men of the crowd were entranced, the women envied her, and the poor children however screamed in fear. Soularous used his magic to make the image disappear, "Like I said, she would have been insulted, now Soularous here would find this amusing." He summoned a new image of his true appearance, wielding the great Blue blade and his signature armor.

The speaker finally spoke, "How do you know all this?"

He simply smiled at her, "You can say I have my knowledge, I can share if you wish."

She looked at him with a begging look, "Please teach me sir."

He simply tapped her head and filled her mind with the true appearances and stories of the demon lords, she quickly fainted from the knowledge, forcing him to catch her.

Laying her down on a chair he looked at the crowd with a charming smile, "I apologize for ruining the show, but I promise next time this place opens, the visit will be worth it. Now I have places to be, good day!" He did a dramatic bow before going over to watch the jugglers.

"For all the boasting you still can't get her appearance right," a voice called to Soularous from behind him. "Lucky for you she's not here to hear you call her a nymph," the voice added and as this speaker approached Solarous saw it was his brother, Aldous, cradling a squirming Dwarf Owlbear under his arm and a basket of goods on the other. "Forgive me for sounding rude, but what are you doing here? Aside from turning children's entertainers into mush-brained cult leaders?"

Soularous gave a chuckle, "She wanted knowledge, I gave it to her. Really I'm here to enjoy the world, I also have a favor to complete." He gave Aldous a smile, "Also Jynieth would much prefer if mortals saw her as that, rather than a fat, bald, green imp as well as making her the opposite sex. She is always touchy about that subject. However she's not here to complain, it's good to see you, how long has it been since we last spoke? One hundred years? One hundred and fifty?" He gave a calm sigh, "Oh how time passes here."

“There about.” Aldous said, with a shrug. “I don’t know about time passing. Unlike you I don’t have to create a moment to enjoy it. I can revel in the little things. Like the wait for winter and mulled wine, or the first crisp day of spring. You have to ruin a puppet show.” he joked. “I really should pop in and say hello to Jynieth...although... she’s probably quite upset with me.”

"There is no pleasing her brother, you know that. I enjoy the things here brother, I just felt the need to share my knowledge. Really I'm here to enjoy the small things as you say. I remember when I first came here, hoping to destroy this world. Now I only want to protect it, that reminds me. What's with the Owlbear and the basket of goods. Usually you would have, other things. Feeling alright?" He had a bit of worry in his voice.

“Oh. You mean Crumpet Destroyer of World, Arcon of the New Age?” Aldous said lifting the squirming creature a bit in the crook of his arm. “A gift for the young miss. Her father never remembers her birthday, so I buy something and tell her it was from him.” He lifted the basket. “And this is just food for the pantry and a bottle of wine for me. Spoiling myself.” he joked letting Soularous see the obviously very cheap bottle of wine.

Soularous gave a soft chuckle, "That's a disappointment of a father, I at least try to give gifts to my child." He gave a sad sigh at the thought, "I tried helping him heal, he's no longer just whimpering in a corner, now he actually walks around. I should have been there with him, I should have taken him back home." He leaned against a wooden pole, "Have I failed our mother? I know I failed The King in White, the old man probably disappeared from the nagging of the other gods." He looked back at Aldous, "How's freedom doing for you?"

Aldous shrugged. “You didn’t fail him.” Aldous held up the squirming beast under his arm and half talked to it and half to Soularous. “He failed us, It’s because of him our kind gets a bad wrap. Thinking what we stand for is black and white. Take Jynieth for example Lady of Deception. Everyone thinks that means she is out to trick people, Jynieth stands for the people hurt by lies. But mortals read texts and carvings and think they know what they mean without thinking beyond the simple words. Then years and years pass and people stand in churches, and temples and shout how evil we are. What madness we bring. You know as well as I that eventually you grow tired of those words and some of us show them who the real bad guys are. But ‘father’ he has machinations of power. What’s that story about wings of wax? ...Oh right you come crashing back down.”

(Joint post LSP and Ender)