supported the great arched roof thirty feet above him.
The beauty of his surrounds aside, he should have at least noticed the women as they rushed to serve him. After all, he gave the positions only to the fairest and then dressed them in revealing golden gowns . But they barely registered on his thoughts. He paid absolutely no attention to the guards in their green and black livery.
This day he had important matters on his mind. Too important to waste his time considering aesthetics. But despite his distraction and the look on his face he wasn't as worried as he might have appeared. He was however, concerned. Concerned that the demon king was once again trying to trick him. Though how he didn't know exactly. He was also more than a little angry at the thought.
Terellion was getting tired of Xin's tricks. More than tired. And he hated having to keep feeding the foul creature as payment for what always turned out to be worthless prizes. Never trust a demon they said, and for the past five years he'd been learning the truth of that miserable saying. In truth he wanted the Xin dead. After five years of the demon king's lies that weren't lies, he hated him. He wanted him to suffer for eternity in the underworld for what he'd done.
But of course Xin was safe in his demonic underworld. He ruled it after all. And Tartarus was far beyond the reach of any wizard. All of Hades was, and Tartarus, the home of the most vile and wicked of souls, was even further out of Terellion's reach. He could open a portal there, but unless the demon king chose to step through willingly – something almost no demon would willingly do – he could not be touched. The realm of the dead was lethal to the living. Worse, even if he had been able to touch him, the demon king was far more powerful than him.
So the king of demons – or prince of Tartarus as he was otherwise known – continued to sit safely in his realm, feeding on the lives of the people Terellion allowed his beastly armies to kill, getting fat and failing to live up to his end of the bargain. And while he did so he continued to promise Terellion everything that he wanted – promises that always turned out to be lies. It had been that way from the beginning.
Some days Terellion wanted to simply tear up the deal he had made with the demon king and walk away. The frustration of the continuing hope and the endless disappointment was just too much. But he couldn't. Not just because if he did then all hope of him gaining his immortality would be lost. Not just because every day he could feel his mortality coming closer. But because he couldn't. The bargain could not be broken by just one party.
The deal had been sworn as a binding. The lives as well as the magic of the twelve most powerful wizards in the five kingdoms had been bound into it. His life had been bound into it. And he feared finding out what would happen if the deal was broken when his was one of those lives. At the least he was certain it would kill him.
Had it been a mistake including his own life in the binding? Terellion wondered about that some days. After all, he could have simply controlled a few others, sacrificed them in his place. That was what he would normally do. He had learned early on in life that that was what other people were good for. To be used as he needed. To be sacrificed when necessary. Even as a young child they had done whatever he wanted. That was his gift.
It had been a good thing until one day in a fit of temper he had told his parents to go away and they had done exactly that. And they had never come back. That was the day he'd realised that he was truly alone in the world. The only one that mattered. Because no one else could be relied upon. So logically it would have been safer and wiser to send others in his place. But Xin had insisted he was part of the binding since he was the leader of the Circle and the one making the deal. And he needed the deal if he
The beauty of his surrounds aside, he should have at least noticed the women as they rushed to serve him. After all, he gave the positions only to the fairest and then dressed them in revealing golden gowns . But they barely registered on his thoughts. He paid absolutely no attention to the guards in their green and black livery.
This day he had important matters on his mind. Too important to waste his time considering aesthetics. But despite his distraction and the look on his face he wasn't as worried as he might have appeared. He was however, concerned. Concerned that the demon king was once again trying to trick him. Though how he didn't know exactly. He was also more than a little angry at the thought.
Terellion was getting tired of Xin's tricks. More than tired. And he hated having to keep feeding the foul creature as payment for what always turned out to be worthless prizes. Never trust a demon they said, and for the past five years he'd been learning the truth of that miserable saying. In truth he wanted the Xin dead. After five years of the demon king's lies that weren't lies, he hated him. He wanted him to suffer for eternity in the underworld for what he'd done.
But of course Xin was safe in his demonic underworld. He ruled it after all. And Tartarus was far beyond the reach of any wizard. All of Hades was, and Tartarus, the home of the most vile and wicked of souls, was even further out of Terellion's reach. He could open a portal there, but unless the demon king chose to step through willingly – something almost no demon would willingly do – he could not be touched. The realm of the dead was lethal to the living. Worse, even if he had been able to touch him, the demon king was far more powerful than him.
So the king of demons – or prince of Tartarus as he was otherwise known – continued to sit safely in his realm, feeding on the lives of the people Terellion allowed his beastly armies to kill, getting fat and failing to live up to his end of the bargain. And while he did so he continued to promise Terellion everything that he wanted – promises that always turned out to be lies. It had been that way from the beginning.
Some days Terellion wanted to simply tear up the deal he had made with the demon king and walk away. The frustration of the continuing hope and the endless disappointment was just too much. But he couldn't. Not just because if he did then all hope of him gaining his immortality would be lost. Not just because every day he could feel his mortality coming closer. But because he couldn't. The bargain could not be broken by just one party.
The deal had been sworn as a binding. The lives as well as the magic of the twelve most powerful wizards in the five kingdoms had been bound into it. His life had been bound into it. And he feared finding out what would happen if the deal was broken when his was one of those lives. At the least he was certain it would kill him.
Had it been a mistake including his own life in the binding? Terellion wondered about that some days. After all, he could have simply controlled a few others, sacrificed them in his place. That was what he would normally do. He had learned early on in life that that was what other people were good for. To be used as he needed. To be sacrificed when necessary. Even as a young child they had done whatever he wanted. That was his gift.
It had been a good thing until one day in a fit of temper he had told his parents to go away and they had done exactly that. And they had never come back. That was the day he'd realised that he was truly alone in the world. The only one that mattered. Because no one else could be relied upon. So logically it would have been safer and wiser to send others in his place. But Xin had insisted he was part of the binding since he was the leader of the Circle and the one making the deal. And he needed the deal if he
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