Evar 'Two-Heart' Za'Darmondiel.
***
"I am free, my fellow Drow. You shall be too."
My back straightened as the words poured from his lips and I found my eyes darting to those long shadows in every corner. In them were the crimson eyes of drow from various houses and none at all, scanning the hall as I was, females and males alike. There were no crimson eyes of spiders, however, a fact rendered moot by the passionate children of House Hun'ana, thus I attempted to slice the conversation from another angle.
Even if it meant repeating myself.
"Undead. Doppelgangers." I shook my head, more in response to my thoughts than my apparent disbelief. "To think you have been training daily with these tools since you were five puts cobwebs around the mind. Had I not experienced it over these last few days, I would have refused to believe it. Yet you tell me your common citizens undergo the same training? Why?
"For what reason do you need subjects this strong?" I asked. "It goes against the ideals of every ruler of every species in history."
"Why?" Amun's brow rose in abject confusion. "Because I have blessed and cursed my people with unbounded freedom, they need to master themselves, not just be strong, for there are many who loathe my existence. Many who will declare war against me on sight, and many more who will take one look at my... uncanny visage and say, 'Evil.'
"As for your claim about ideals, my paternal side goes against the ideals of every species in history. I may be half-drow, I may be the Eternal God of this universe, but I'm a Child of the Nox first. The Twenty-Fifth Child of darkness, death, and void. What do I gain from exerting control over mortals? On the contrary, what do I gain by giving everyone power and letting nature run its course?
"My final reason is a foreign concept to you Drow of the Demon Spider. I care for my so-called, 'subjects.'" He sneered as he passed his draconic eyes over the crowd, seeming to gorge on their unease. "I do this by bringing them to their potential and pushing them further until they are indomitable, for I know there will be many who come for my head in the coming times.
"I know that no matter how few or many enemies or allies I have, no matter how powerful I become, I cannot protect everyone. So I don't try. Instead, I make them mighty enough to protect themselves. Even from the Gods themselves. And so, now that a certain God and his long-eared followers are at the brink of war with me, whom they gave the title of Unicorn Slayer, it will not be me whom they face. Nor with their antitheses face me in these Falls.
"That is what it means to be God-Emperor."
"And those of your Troupe are strongest of all." I managed to mutter. "Would you then, perhaps, show us a bit of this might?"
"No." Amun flatly cut my suggestion down. "I did not come here to show off. my Troupe."
"Oh, just fight!" Sovereign Galendra protested. "If they die, they die. They'll change either way."
"Eh." Amun carelessly shrugged. "That comes later. I will, however, tell you that every one of us is at least as strong as a vampire."
"Even the little bard?" Z'ress interjected with a hiss. "How?"
"Necromancy," Amun answered but said to me. "That, I will show you."
Saying nothing, I waved a minotaur forward, eliciting a strange look from Amun. "How many minotaur do you have?" Rather than waiting for an answer, however, he grabbed my wrist and palmed the minotaur's head with his other hand before smirking at me. "Don't die on me, Two-Heart."
If I thought those horrid whips carried by the high priestesses were torturous, this feeling of death incarnate pouring into my being was downright sadistic.
It was like an infectious monster that attacked the flesh only, making my muscles cramp into gnarls before ripping themselves apart, only to be forced to reform and tear and reform and tear with more resistance each cycle. I felt myself screaming, yet I could not hear it over the cracking of my bones as every muscle cramped flakes off my skeleton. I knew I had doubled over, that I was writhing in drool and pain in an incoherent mess, yet I could not feel it over the shifting bones and popping joins. Not until the rush faded and I came to meet the glazed eye of a minotaur, slumped forward on its legs.
"That was the most dreadful thing I have ever experienced." I groaned, standing to my feet. Only to gasp in shock upon habitually flexing my hands. "But… I have never felt better."
"Don't be too proud." Amun snickered. "I had to give you half its constitution to keep you from dying. Man, you're old!" He full-on laughed.
"You'll get used to it," Leary said. And Iris concurred with a subtle giggle.
Meanwhile, Amun grinned airily. "Just like old times."
I looked at them incredulously before turning the felled minotaur. Then, with a smile, grasped the creature by the horns and lifted it with only a little effort. "And this is something your Legionaries gain during their evolution ritual?"
"It is." Amun nodded. Although I'm debating if we should hold off on giving them such boons until they become Brains. They'll all be warlocks, you see. Custom made by me."
"You should, without a doubt," I murmured. "You give out power far too freely?"
Amun's brow rose in response, yet his eyes were drawn to Z'ress' hiss. "Far too freely."
"You think so, Z'ress?" He smiled in that deviously charming way. "I planned on giving you some. We'll see if you feel the same way once you hear my terms. And more, once you complete your training."
"And what does a mana domain entail, exactly?" I quickly said, aiming to slice the conversation from a different angle, yet the massive Sovereign only laughed at the attempt.
"It entails the fundamental forces of this universe," Amun said flatly. "The natural laws, represented by my magic cores, as you call them. Nuclear, Electromagnetism, and Gravity, in addition to Space-Time. And then there is mana itself and the unnatural laws born from it. With that comes the ways mana is used. Mana molding, mana manipulation, mana casting, mana cores, and undoubtedly forging, not that I can do it yet.
"So too does it entail mana wells and those born with unique mana- Sorcerers. Not to mention, evolution. Change. Oh, yeah. Let's not forget classes."
"W- what did you say?" Z'rynda, the other Hun'ana daughter demanded.
"I can see much with these eyes, you know." He grinned, tapping at his temple and the eldritch orbs contained within. "How do you think they obtained what even I could not?" He then asked, throwing his arms at Iris and Leary. But not the Sovereign, strangely.
"Legendary Classes. Fusions of the classes you and I have." He gestured to me. "They have them because I guided them toward such treasures whilst raising them in my divine realm. I guided them because I can see down every path anyone can ever make. Every step. Every perk. Even mine. And of course, that of my Legions.
"But that is simply what Telin blessed me with. Fundamentally, the Mana Domain allows me to do as Mana does. Change. Evolve both others and the very realms in ways beyond mere classes. It is present in all my domains, Change. That is what allowed Iris to adopt a facsimile of my sorcery. It's what allowed Leary to become a paragon of his kind. It's what made the others in the Troupe Sorcerers. But in their cases, the change was brought about by my other domains. Leary and the other Undying Fiends with Twilight. Iris with Engineering. Blude, Geri, and Freki with Moonlight.
"These are the members of my troupe that you all know. However, there is also the matter of your first son." The flatness of his tone made it all the worse. Tenfold more was the unfocused glaze over his eyes. The type of tempered rage seen in a seasoned veteran who always remembered the worst day of their life. "You know. The one who was said to be born to teach me, Telin's Champion. The one who was sent away from Nydorden Halls to accompany me on my travels. Indefinitely.
"Unbeknownst to you all, he did so with conditions. A deal, if you will." He turned his eyes about every drow in the room. "His end of the bargain is to travel these realms at my side, learning the art of war from every culture we visit so he may return to teach me and my Legions. In doing so, he evolved, but not just for the sake of himself; for his end of the bargain was made for both my sake and yours, my fellow Drow.
"Those who capitulate to the spider out of necessity or fear, those who would turn coat if a drow deity with purpose was to appear, those who realize you are enslaved by your Demon Spider, I am here to free you, for that was your first son's wish to his God. For that, he hand-picked the best of my abilities and aspects to make you perfect. It was through this that something unique was created." He raised his finger as he scanned the many monks among us.
"Drow Monks of the Astral Way like you, Evar, experience their True Selves' relocating to my divine realm of Eotrom. It still operates as normal; albeit with more power, having the hot core of a dead star as its heart. It exists in the cosmos of my realm- the infinite void of space and time comprising the universe, dwelling in clouds of matter and energy dispersed from a star that once was. Thus giving your namesake. Nova Drow.
"Well." He turned away, shrugging carelessly. "He calls you Nebulous Drow but Nova Drow sounds better, in my opinion."
"And what of those drow who are not monks of the astral way?" Sovereign Galendra asked from the table on which she lounged.
"Oh, well, it depends on their... hostility." Amun chortled coyly, glancing at Z'ress. "Anyone who attacks me and mine in the name of their Goddess will die and be corrupted. As per the Rules of Death, however, it would be taboo for me to kill the drow of House Za'Darmondiel, so they will just be corrupted and changed. If any drow joins me willingly, though, they'll be brought into Nox and learn what darkness truly is, having been reborn as Night Elves.
"That's only for me, however. Those who are changed by Troupe- well... who knows what they'll make of them. Undying Fae, perhaps?"
"Nah," Iris smirked, shaking her head as she stared the Hun'ana twins dead in the eyes. "Arion."
"Right." Amun nodded after snickering at Leary's indifference. "Anyway, Night Elves are also Drow Paragons. You'll no longer be hindered by the light and will live in my Empire as royals in my kingdom, accompanying me on my march across the Mortal Plane."
Pausing, yet keeping his eldritch eyes trained on me, he held out his hand and took a single step forward. "Two-Heart, I tell you this because I need someone to oversee the Noctis Hall of Excellency. I need someone who will make my Legionaries perfect. A drow with exceptional skill, centuries of experience, and the zeal to give my Legions a standard of competency unsurpassed in the realms. That someone is you, Evar Za'Darmondiel."
"Stop. Please… you'll damn us all." I muttered, desperate to salvage the situation, but to no avail. Amun only spread his arms wide enough to engulf us all.
"We're already damned, Evar!" He wickedly grinned.
"I- I cannot." There was no need to look at any of the others gathered. But Amun paid them little mind.
"Why not? You don't wish to leave the monks behind? The instructors of this tower? The tower itself?" He asked, wide-eyed and unblinking. "Naturally, I'm asking those monks to make my Legionaries excellent as well, and you can have the tower. It is, after all, yours."
"Yes, Selph. Why not?" Z'ress hissed. Yet Iris stepped in front of her with eyes as crimson as ours. Only brighter.
"You stay out of this."
"Yes, Z'ress Hun'ana. You stay out of this, for She who is worthy of becoming my Valkyrie has a decision to make. So think hard about it and speak to my daughter; you and your siblings.
"Now, then." Amun shifted his head, moving his line of sight from Z'ress to my rear to my eyes, forced to lock with his. "Why not, Evar? Do you think the spiders will come? Do you think they will kill you if you agree? Do you think they will take you; torture you? Do you think the Matrons will seek to change you like they tried to do to your son?"
He somehow stared deeper into my soul without moving a muscle. Increasing the pressure of his stare such that the walls began to quake ad infinitum through the Falls as he growled. "Do you really think I'd do nothing if they tried?"
"Stop!" Z'ress screamed.
Followed by her sister. "Evar!"
"Z'rynda!" Iris barked behind me. "Shh!"
"This is what you are capable of, Evar; I can see that in your path. This is what you've dreamed of, Evar; I can see it in your soul. This is what you've prayed for; all of you! I can…" He scratched furiously at his head. "I can hear you! Constantly pleading and praying for the death of your oppressors so you can be free of this madness. It's made apparent by the title you all have given me. You want me to destroy this culture. And you know as well as I do that it's already started."
My eyes darted around, noticing the signs I forced myself to ignore: the darkness that seemed to obscure selectively; the gross lack of spiders, and the frequent disappearances of that massive drow over the last days; the pulse of divine energy that was the same color as this young woman that took the mushroom forests; the goblin slave's admiration for Leary.
It was only a matter of time before drow started disappearing. Perhaps they already were outside the tower. Either way, we would soon be joining them, and I swore long ago I'd utilize every means to prevent that from happening. So it was, I grasped onto his hand, if only because I knew what this very conversation would cost me. However, there was no way I could have known where it would take me.
"The Matrons and their Demon Queen be damned!"
I felt as if my consciousness was stripped from my body and merged with my true self as it detached to ascend through the stone, air, and void above to enter a realm of darkness, broken apart by countless motes of light placed so far away it was indescribable.
I rammed into one of those motes- a star, at the end of my journey, adding mass where none existed until the colossal object collapsed and rebounded against the dense core, releasing a concentration of energy great enough to forge elements and eject the untold quantities of matter into the void.
As quickly as the implosion came, I was made consciously aware of all things within this infinitely expanding space. I had form, formless though I was, being comprised of a cloud of vibrant matter scattered around the glowing heart of a star.
Floating in the void, I could look and see the binary eyes of two others like me, waving with their twinkling eyes before many more explosions joined them in the far distance. I could almost travel to the exotic but familiar shapes they created, spotting new stars orbited by realms of power; globes or rather, worlds of blue seas, sandy deserts, forests of green, and mountains capped in white.
I could see it, the Eternal Champion's Divine Realm of Eotromenia, in its entirety, yet I could simultaneously gaze down into a pit- a room of darkness, to see corrupted humans, dwarves, goblins, and orcs spread about the lands, using beasts of metal infused with magic to do their bidding in place of slaves. Yet I could also see… people; members of every species. They were fighting them. Training in war to evolve into warriors of legend. Legionaries of the Nox.
So too could I see myself looking over them. Judging them. Analyzing them. Assessing them down to the finest detail to determine who was worthy of wearing the mark of the ancient abyssal clan merged with the eldest house of drow.
I saw it all before my consciousness fell, wherein I faced despair. That vast and yet small peninsula raced to my feet like a mad monster, fading into darkness as I plummeted through the depths, fell through the walls of this tiny tower, and returned to my body in this Gods-forsaken cavern. Yet, part of me saw that grandiose realm still, and therein I remained, both here and there.
However, I was no longer just the drow monk, Evar Za'Darmondiel. I was… untethered. Born anew by the force of a supernova into a being of Two Hearts. And so it was, the first thing these newborn senses bore witness to, was chaos unleashed.