Once his laughter dies away, leaving only the menacing sight of a pair of glowing red eyes entrenched in impenetrable darkness, he begins to speak once again.
"My, what a marvelous story! I haven't been this entertained since my friend and follower Reishvart, told me of the sight of little mortals wading through his beautiful swamp! I do hope to see it at some point, and perhaps I shall if it is still there when the time comes for me to leave this world. However, as it is, it isn't worth risking the wrath of that Aenae to view my protegee's accomplishments.
"Heh heh heh… I'm sure you don't think nearly so favorably of Reishvart as I do, eh? In fact, your hatred for this Lectoricus, or Lector as you call him, seems to be so immense that I bet it even has spread over to me. Am I right?"
Sensing that it would be an all-new pinnacle of foolishness to lie before this god-like being or immeasurable evil might, I nod, saying "Yes, I hate all who could possibly be related to the development of my former master."
"Surely you realize the foolishness in this? In fact, shouldn't you be grateful to your master even still? He gave you great knowledge and skill in the ways of this world, if you had never encountered him, you would merely have been a nameless slave dieing on a nameless battlefield. So what if you had fancy proficiencies? Without Lector to mold you, you never would have amounted to anything.
"Of course, you are still welcome to hate whoever you please; you certainly do already, why rely on my permission? You view this world and all who are in it as evil for standing against your absolute happiness, believing that you rest at the pinnacle of morality and that all means justify the ends should the ends be your success and happiness. You hate everyone already, to such an extent that you would happily see them dead; even if I had never interacted with Lector, nay, this world, you would still hate me for merely inhabiting it. Is this correct?"
"Yes," I respond through gritted teeth, annoyed that he had whittled down my complex and legitimate moral reasoning to such seemingly silly statements; but, of course, I had always known that no one other than myself could truly understand the depth of my intellect and the value of my character; and how could they? I value my own life far more than they would ever value it, of course my understanding of morality would be based on that; to lessen the quality of my life even by an infinitesimally small degree, even if only indirectly, such is a sin worthy of death.
And death I shall deal, and with a great deal of pleasure as well; none shall escape my wrath when the time comes.
Rahvert is not yet done, however; once he receives my affirmation, he continues on. "Well, who am I to judge you? I once led an army of the dead into this world, an army so large that it covered a great portion of the surface of the world, intent on annihilating all life upon it. I have never regretted doing so, nor shall I; my existence is mine to enjoy however I please, so long as I am willing to put up with the natural consequences, why should I limit my desires? I am 'evil,' by the ways of this world; so too is this world evil, by your own standards. Morality is subjective, why should I care about what the world thinks of me? The only thing that I care about is my own personal enjoyment, which I get first from life, then from my friends, and finally from possessing power and utilizing it to slaughter the living. I do as I please, and none shall inhibit me; unless, of course, they are more powerful. Then, my desire for self-preservation must necessarily take over from my desire to enjoy myself however I see fit; after all, what point is there in enjoying life when doing so may cause you to die? Of course, I cannot really die, but the consequences of my defeat on this plane would be nearly limitless, it would take me quite literally millions of years to build back to my current strength, time in which I would face no enjoyment whatsoever while wandering the planes of Lincaernus; I'll pass.
"Now, you hate me, and I could really care less. You have entertained me, my benefit from killing you is immeasurably small, leave if you so please. Feel free to tell others of this place if you wish; more visitors for me, how could I complain, especially considering that so many people have an incorrect understanding of where I am imprisoned. That said, if you are interested in doing a little something that may just provide me with great entertainment and you with a little something as well…"
Deciding that it probably couldn't hurt, I take the bait. "What do you have in mind?" I ask.
"Well, it seems to me that you have quite a heated rivalry between yourself and that Lector fellow I have never met. I merely thought that it would be rather interesting to assist you in your conflict."
"Heh?" is all I can get out in response to this request that comes from seemingly out of nowhere.
"Exactly what I said. I enjoy little conflicts between mortals, they provide me entertainment; so too I enjoy a bit of friendly competition with my friends. You, my follower, vs Lector, Reishvart's follower; now, wouldn't that be entertaining? Of course, I would never normally do such a thing, no matter how much entertainment may be wrought; however, I rather like you. Your spirit, your wrath, your hatred of the world and its inhabitants… I must admit to holding a sort of morbid curiosity as to what could come of bestowing such a man with true power. Add that intriguing mystery to the legendary tale of your revenge against Lector… why, it seems almost obvious that I would want to be credited as the orchestrator of such a thing!"
"Wait, so what specifically would you do to help me? And, more importantly, what would I owe you? If you think I'm going to release you, or help you obtain your freedom, you're delusional."
This sets him into a veritable fit of laughter for some reason. Once he has come around again, he actually apologizes, saying "my apologies, you would not believe how inexpressibly amusing it is to have a mere mortal casually passing insults onto me without showing even a sign of worry over the consequences! I knew you were a good pick!
"So, as for what, [exactly] I would like to do for you… simply put, there are several things. I would like to give you some very unique powers, a bit of very useful information… and, perhaps to level the playing field against your rival a new name."
It takes me a moment to process what was just said. Then, I cannot help but snort. "How foolish do you think I am? I am struggling to be free of Lector's name upon me, and have been for some time; why would I consent to having a self-admittedly evil being place a new name upon me?"
It is his turn to snort, before replying "Perhaps you are a fool, did you listen to what I said?" he asks, all friendliness in his voice now gone. "I will tolerate disrespect, but idiots should just die!" he then spits out venomously.
My instincts for self preservation kicking in, I quickly reply "Please, enlighten me on my idiocy! For if there is one thing that I cannot stand, it is a fool!"
"Hmph, then perhaps you should jump off a cliff… very well, I will explain your stupidity. There are a great many reasons not to want to associate with me, but a name isn't one of them. Simply put, what benefit would I gain from using a name to enslave you? All I desire from you is entertainment; if I wanted a slave, I would simply resurect one of the skeletonized corpses hiding in the mists around you. No, the name is simply to get rid of the threat of Lector which hangs over you, as well as a way to further increase your power."
"Then, could I just have the power without the name?"
"Fool!" Rahvert roars thunderously, an even denser aura of death emerging from him that causes my heart to fully stop beating for a second or two. The aura quickly passes by, however, and he continues in his usual tone. "My servant already has many powerful servants, why should I want to increase Lector's power so? Without changing your name, you would become a tasty dish to be feasted upon by him as he consumes all the powers I pass on. Seriously, I never thought it would be so difficult to pass my powers on to such a power-hungry maniac… So no, either accept the whole of my offer or leave it."
Inside, I am deeply torn. On one hand, the offer of power is tempting; on the other, is this not the exact same trap that I fell for with Lector? A promise of power, an individual who I trust (not that I really trust Rahvert at all; nor, really did I trust Lector either – in that case it was a gamble for power), and some risk of betrayal. Lector was far more trustworthy than Rahvert, based upon all available information, and yet accepting even his offer was a challenge; considering the result of that arrangement, how could I submit so fully to Rahvert, an openly evil and untrustworthy individual, to such an extent as to allow him to name me? After all, as it is said, "fool me once shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me;" if I were to allow him to name me, and were to end up suffering for it, would I not be the most foolish fool to ever grace this reality with his idiocy? Thus, I have more than half a mind to say no, to definitively turn down his offer and walk away.
Yet! Something just keeps prodding me, telling me that there isn't much to lose here. Sure, I may lose my life; however, at the moment, with Lector always on my dark horizons, I can't exactly live it. Furthermore, whatever my foolish optimism may suggest, it is quite likely that there may not be a single sorcerer in the world – at least not one readily available for hire – who would be capable of fixing this issue of my name.
So, what is the worst case scenario here? My name-based ownership is transferred from Lector to Rahvert, and Rahvert uses this power to kill or otherwise exploit me? Yes, in that case, perhaps I would rather remain tethered to Lector.
However, realistically speaking, what are the odds of such a thing happening? If Rahvert truly wanted to kill me, he could do so here and now, and with minimal effort as well. If he plans to utilize me as a slave, well, why? As he has already stated himself, and as is otherwise clear knowing even the basics of history, he is able to command the undead, perfect slaves. If what he says is true, that he has killed prior visitors and their corpses are scattered around in this dark miasma, which I have no reason not to believe, he could form a group of perfect slaves here and now; realistically, what use would he have for me as a slave?
So, in reality, the options are to remain enslaved to Lector, who can return at any time to steal everything from me, relying only upon the slim chance that I can somewhere find a sorcerer of sufficient power to free me from the dread of this accursed name, or be free of my name to him, switching it to the possession of Rahvert instead. And, of course, that ignores the additional benefits of accepting Rahvert's name…
And besides, wasn't I planning on finding a sorcerer who could rename me anyway? Whoever that was would have a great deal of control over me afterwards, instead of being named by a random sorcerer I am instead being named by an ancient lich who promises benefits for accepting the name, is it really all that much worse?
And those benefits cannot be ignored! Even without them, I would be inclined towards accepting Rehavert's name so as to be free of Lector's; if this name also comes with great power, and non-naming benefits besides, would it not be the pinnacle of foolishness to take this seemingly low risk gamble?
Of course, my gamble with Lector was also seemingly low risk; however, there I was relying upon my perception of his character, and my lack of knowledge was my downfall; here, I am relying upon the reasoned argument that Rahvert has quite literally no conceivable use for me that would dictate such effort on his behalf.
Still, there is one last thing to ask before I give him my ultimate answer. "If I may just hazard to ask one more question?"
After he replies that I may if I so choose, I ask my question itself. "You say that I must be renamed to remove the effects of Lector from over me; is it not also possible to just remove the name he gave me without assigning a new one?"
He is silent for a moment, before responding "Not a stupid question, for a change, but certainly a self-interested one. To be honest, yes, I could remove his name from you without assigning a new one. However, I will not, and I have three reasons why."
Perhaps sensing that I am about to ask, he continues "The first of these three is that it is not infeasible that you would encounter a sorcerer of such power that he could bend someone of your might to his will. Among mortals, those who could do so are slim; yet, among deities, even someone with minimal sorcery attainment might easily ensnare you as his unwilling name slave. The second reason is that there is a certain degree of power which I wish to grant you, a name is an important part of that – if you will not have it all, you will have none, you are my sponsored entertainment after all. And third, and this one is purely for my own self interest, holding a nem over you shall allow me certain safety from you in the future; for with your demeanor and outlook, I would be just as unsurprised if you were to one day become a deity as I would be if you were to die tomorrow at the hands of a powerful demon you encounter in the forest."
[Why, that's oddly specific,] I think to myself, while responding "Well, in that case, I shall accept your name happily, alongside whichever other gifts you choose to bestow upon me."