The Past Ahead - an Empires SMP AU

Chapter 21 - Who needs enemies with friends like these

           Xornoth glared at the blue corruption that was now spreading across the empires like wildfire. Lady Katherine had now prevented him from growing his corruption further. As soon as possible he wanted to kill that healer and kill her again until she stopped respawning. Behind the demon, Mayor Lizzie sniffed the blue plants and wrinkled her nose.

           "Smells like the Fae," She said. "I know," Xornoth said irritatedly. "The corruption of those Fae repels mine." "Well, I hate the Fae then," Joey said loyally, and began to hack at the blue corruption with his ax. "No need for that," Xornoth said. "Eventually my corruption will overpower theirs. When I regain my physical form I will regain my lost power."

           "How will you gain a body, anyway?" Lizzie asked. "A little dark magic; the specifics aren't necessary for you to know right now. I need powerful magic to channel, however. I require the Crown and a sacrifice." "Do I have to kidnap Shrub again?" "No. I need the dragon." "Shouldn't be too hard." Lizzie said, eating a mouse. "Oli adopted it; and we all know he dies too much on his own already. He won't be a match for me."

           "I want the Crown first. Then we can worry about the dragon." "We agreed to rendezvous at Sanctuary. Joel should be there, and he'll have the Crown with him," Joey said confidently. "But so will all the other emperors," Lizzie pointed out. Xornoth chuckled. "We can handle them. And we don't have to kill them all just yet anyway. And I have a secret weapon."

           "Really? What is it?" "False. I believe I've manipulated her onto our side." "Ooh! False is the best pvper. This should be fun," Lizzie cackled, scraping her claws against the wall. "I love being a villain." "So we go to attack them now?" Joey asked excitedly. "One more thing. You must not kill Scott. Neither of them." "Why?" "Why? You said this last time too. Why is Scott so important alive?" Joey demanded to know. Xornoth put off explaining to him, saying he would do that later when False was there to listen.

           Lizzie had made the first attack, managing to get to the Castle of Memories first with her feline speed. Xornoth smiled when he heard the explosion. She's a good emperor on my side. As Joey joined the fight, the demonic spirit looked for the being he was hoping to possess. There he is. The demigod Hermes was hiding fearfully behind two Hareons, watching the battle with wide eyes. "Madre de Girasoles, Hermes! Get to safety!" Maria scolded; hand on an ax and ferociously deflecting any attacks that came too close to the still frozen Sausage of Sanctuary. Hermes nodded and turned to run. Oh no you don't. The demon reached out and took control. 

           Xornoth had reveled in the power the demigod possessed. And it was merely half of his father's. Once the Crown is in my possession I can possess him instead. And then False had helpfully slain the god to give the demon the Crown, but she was shockingly thwarted by the bumbling bard. And he had made a rule against killing, temporarily stopping the bloodshed.

           Xornoth had decided to end the battle there. He could have pressed his advantage and killed all the emperors who were not allowed to kill him, but like he said, the demon liked to play with his prey. And there were other reasons. While they were fighting to claim the Crown, it was also mostly to judge the emperors' defenses and fighting prowess. And Xornoth wanted to use this deathless period of time to set up a few more... obstacles in his enemies' way, while they couldn't fight him.

           After the battle in the Castle of Memories, they flew to Animalia, which by now was very corrupted. Almost all of its buildings were red and exuding evil. Xornoth explained his reasoning to False and Lizzie and Joey while they were patching themselves up. They too had been injured in various ways. Joey had been electrocuted, Lizzie had dozens of cuts all over her, and False was staring at blood dripping from her hands, although it wasn't her blood, and she stopped as soon as she saw Xornoth was looking.

           "Well now that False is here, why do we have to leave Scott alive?" Joey asked after drinking a healing potion, although one of his eyes was still twitching from the extra electricity. Joel had still held back his full power, though, probably assuming Joey was possessed. "His soul and mine are linked," Xornoth said, and False stopped trying to wash the blood off of her to listen. "If either of us dies, the other will as well. I'm not sure about Scott's reincarnation, but we can't take chances." "Of course, Xorny," Joey promised. "From now on, Scott's off the kill list."

           "Speaking of killing, I'm a carnivore! I eat freshly killed meat! Drat that Oli, he's starving me!" Lizzie kicked a rock into a tree and startled a few pigeons into flying away. Xornoth laughed. "You haven't seen the loopholes yet?" "What? Oh..." Lizzie realized, eyes widening. Joey and False frowned. "What loopholes?" The architect asked. "The Crown's rule only applies to the emperors themselves. So other beings can still do some murder. Like me. Now have you found a few more loopholes, mayor?" "Oh, just around a dozen," Lizzie said casually, and Joey shot her a double take.

          "Now excuse me, I'll just go ask my foxes to kill a few chickens for me.  It's long past my dinner." With that, the cat padded off and Joey scowled at her retreating figure. "Xornoth, do we have to work with her?" "I corrupted her." "Yeah, well, I'm supposed to rule her and she rejected my orders!" "Joey dear," Xornoth purred, "Don't worry about that now. After we win and we rule the world, we can establish who is in charge of who." Joey smiled; False said nothing, busy getting rid of the bloodstains on her clothes.

           After Joey left to eat dinner, Xornoth approached False. He had a feeling he needed to remind her why she was supposed to be on his side. "How are you feeling, False?" He asked. "Exhilarated," She said, eyes bright. "Frightened but exhilarated. I haven't let my other side out since those days I assassinated people in my sleep." She looked scared and excited at the same time, although probably more scared than excited. Xornoth laughed. False looked at him in a weird way. "It's hard to take you seriously when you're in Hermes' body." "Oh, I'll soon be possessing the god's," The demon assured her. "He's much more powerful than his son. And with all that power in our hands... imagine, no one can stand against us." "No one to fight," False said softly. "Safe and sound." 

           The next morning Lizzie told the four of them she had a plan. "I've always wanted to rule the world, so I've been planning for a long time how to go about it." The mayor showed them all a very complicated chart that was mostly scribbles. Joey snorted. "That's your plan? Well, I see why you haven't enacted it sooner, it's terrible." Lizzie bristled. "Like you can do any better." "Stop arguing," False said quietly. 

           As soon as Lizzie explained the plan, however, even Joey had to admit that it was a good plan. And Xornoth couldn't wait to use it against the other emperors. 

           When I rule the world... I might just keep that devious cat.