heart of darkness

Taking the lead, traversing through the hazardous environments. The trio would eventually come upon a quiet place. A lack of sound beyond the steps they made through the bushes.

"Here..."

With a single arm it motioned towards the empty field, taking to it. Some leaps and bounds to find itself before the two at the center. And without wasting a moment, ensuring they learned only the most precious of information.

"Desire to manipulate the shadows... Through the occult. My, mastery... Yes. Look around, notice... Vast, darkness, vast... Shadow."

To the demon, that's exactly what it was. Despite the open space, the open forest. So as long as shade existed, as did its power. "Must, realize... What one, desires, when calling to arts."
(Xirgoth)

The magic of shadow was unique.

Not only because of the potential it held, but because of the power within the manipulation of darkness. Quite often, shadow is antagonized as something that is incredibly suspicious, something that could very well prove to be someone's demise, if they're not careful with using that magic..

But the truth is in the eye of beholder.

And while the Serpent slithers away after Xirgoth, the snake-eyes keep exploring the area of Dreadwoods. Silent, yet deadly.. and filled to the brim with forces of the dark, yet serene as if chaos is not present here at all.

It's an odd duality.
A place of demons full of calm.

Fitting for solidarity of Serpent; for the retraction, away from the rest of the world, to rest for some time and perhaps retract in its evolving thoughts. But..

"It isssss… dessssire, then?"
(Fidi)

"What one desires.." She mumbled. The empty field was quiet, exceptionally so. Quickly they got to work. Serafina sat down and let the dark whispers and voices invade her mind. Constantly she kept them at bay, now, she let them in.

Rise above them... Witch... Bring about an new era of demonkind… The girl shut her eyes, and tried to navigate these thoughts, where there were coming from, the Lord of Helheim himself!? Or a voice in her head, herself. Conflicted, she decided to channel mana within herself.

Fill herself with the emotions these thoughts possessed, Pride, Envy, Lust, Greed, Sloth.. All of the sins took their grasp of her psyche especially quickly in these corrupted places.

Her soul must've been stained black than black. Consulting with demons on a whim, doing their bidding, all for her grandmother, all for her ambitions and goals. Be more selfish... take things for yourself alone... Some voices whispered, slowly growing louder and louder.

Robes rested gently on the Dreadwoods floor, and she raised out a hand. Like her grandmother would show her, before she passed. Vacuous and dark energy poured from her fingertips without control or her say so. Eventually the voices dampened and the darkness seeping from her fingertips dried up.

The hopeful witch emerged from her trance. She cackled with delight, at last she became less of a vessel for others, and more of for herself.. her own selfish delights.

Demons were ever so useful to her...
(Serafina)

"Hmm... Eager one." It spoke whilst taking a seat and watching the human make what it considered their first attempt at the art? Whatever the case, deciding not to spend anytime idling.

"Unlike... Humans, demons; kin. To wield, shadows... Must train in wielding occult... Command, no, Demand... Your magics, abide by; your whim."

Knowing things might be easier shown than spoken.

As the girl was deep in their practice, maybe they'd stop for a moment merely to watch what could be had when wielding the dark arts. "Watch... As shadows, bend." And it happened as the voice reached into their mind. Trees remaining up tall, but shade cast had begun rippling across the grass like waves across the shore.

Building up until eventually crashing onto Xirgoth, coating its visage like a curtain momentarily enough for one arm to raise up. Pooling sickly magics all together a single point.

"Palm... Is center. Point... Of, convergence."

Lowering its hand down, pushing it off to allow it the chance to levitate between the three. Resonating with an aura that surely the both could feel as; tempting.

"Envision, pain... Envision, self... Growth. Whatever it is, that. You desire, so as long as it's... Strong."
(Xirgoth)

To demand, rather than merely command.

To wield the shadows is to wield the essence of the dark itself; but while many other Demons could merely twist the essence of Occult into something else, for Fidi, it remained to be an endeavour in which he could evoke the power over dark as if it were his own. Isn't that the dream of every demon out there?

Compel the dark to serve them with all it has.

In the eye of the beholder, all things can be different; and while Xirgoth shows the palm of convergence, he already knows that his own method would be that of insurgence- that of flooding the reality all around him with the intent to cause the manipulation unlike any other. To that end..

It remains an invading force.
Almost parasitic.

Almost as if the snake intends to very much 'poison' reality with his venom. The shadows deepen around it, and unlike that of Occult, they're also tied in illusory acts- the reality seems to shift and warp with the mediocre shadows, the echoes come to manifest as reality.

The Serpents of the dark slowly emerge from the trees nearby.
Sanguine eyes and bared fangs.

But instead of doing anything yet, they're given form. At first, at the very least..

"It issss.. chaosss. The elimination of ssstatus quo.."

"The end of thissss era.."

"The promissse of different future.."

A foreshadow of what lies ahead?
(Fidi)

Serafina listened eagerly to the demon's instructions, staying still in her position. The instructions may not have been meant for her, but she delightfully accepted them. She envisaged herself a high ranking witch; occult at her fingertips, and herself flooded with power.

A Queen for a Kingdom, that's what she wanted to be. Yet Xirgoth also preached about command, or maybe that was just for demons... Nevertheless she gave the command. Again, her eyelids shut closed, sins and anger pooling at her mana. This time however she would enforce her will on the voices.

As she engulfed herself in the self destructive and soul twisting energy irradiating from within herself and her surrounding the voices crept in again. Her will had to be resolute, the novice Occultist had to succeed. She just had to be able to manipulate it.

As it grew again at her fingertips, she gave powerful internal commands, calm and peaceful a sheer contrast to her mana's erratic and chaotic state. Somehow this seemed to work, like it wanted to bend her voice, her command. Like manipulating that girl earlier, it too was like her.. naïve and malleable.

Energy was directed to form into an orb; like that which she had seen earlier. This time it would do what she said, and it would become a tool, a weapon for her arsenal. She would use it not the other way around.. How wrong she was, but she didn't know.

For now the magic would cave in, do what she said.. As would the voices.

An orb of pure black occultic energy appeared in her palm, and with one fell swoop she fired it off into the distant with a resulting bang.
(Serafina)

Allowing its words to sink in, watching with glee... If such a thing could be expressed under such faceless conditions. And yet, the humming of occultism brought to life by the two was nothing short of impressive. For both its kin and begrudgingly...

The child as well.

But nothing less was expected when it, itself, was teaching the craft. Knowing a simple lesson could serve to easily further them in future trainings. Task that could be shaped in any manner, so as long as one was strict in their diet of information.

"To release… Is a simple concept... Anyone, can... Release. Magic." At least, anyone adapt at wielding magic could. "What one needs, is... Control, to... Refine, chaos... Into whims of mind. Of desires. Allow magic to be, yours. Not, other way."

Despite the vast intelligence it held, sometimes. At least in the beginning, a strong foundation could serve to further one into realms of mastery.

Even as they spoke, the teachings imparted to the two were reabsorbed into the demons mind, portrayed even in its own display of skill. Harnessing shadows that weren't yet taken over controlled by, Fidi.

Siphoning the darkness into its own existence, extending the small lesser shadow into something. Unbecoming, a possible foretelling to its own evolution.

Yet, it was brief. Done away as the others came through in their practices.

"Must have, strong desires... Strong, images... Will. Cannot, waver, which is why... Magic is honed easily. As demon." But then again, it was like the girl spoke. Humans had ways to imitate the darkness. Even if not pure to its core, it was still effective to kill a man.
(Xirgoth)

The purpose of shadows was not only to kill or spread chaos.

But manifest the very will that Fidi carried- the very will that could allow him to rise far enough to create the chaos insurgency. Although, is it strange to say that he didn't desire to merely rest at the top, merely acquire as much power as possible? No...

There are things worth more than life.
Even his own.

There are dreams about bringing chaos to this world. To sink it in despair that is yet to be found upon the pages of history- the despair that could prove itself to be the undoing of humanity and all that they stand for.

At the very least, the way they currently are.

Beyond the challenge to status quo? The dreams of the lesser demon never went any further. This will is channelled through such dream, through the desire to see the burning of countless towns and civilizations alike.

To see it all go up in flames.

And it is there that the shadows begin to subtly move- where they're given form, they're instead given life. The shadowy snakes begin to slither down from the trees, closer towards Fidi himself.

"Hsssss..."

The eye of beholder could tell many truths, and many lies as well. But what is a truth or a lie, when the reality could be what he wants it to be, when he's far enough?

"Come to me.. come and join the huntsssss.."

The little whispers spoken to the shadowy snakes, under the guidance of Xirgoth. The first step would be to tame them..

Then, he could hone them.
(Fidi)

At the demons outward dismissiveness of her ability to control and refine her Occult magic she could almost scoff. If she was not mistaken, demons were first brought into Esshar through Witches... Hmm. Well, she wouldn't argue, her mistress had been ever so kind to her.

Serafina could perhaps be seen as talented, especially for her age. However she knew she would become wiser and stronger in time.. Without an evolution she would naturally progress into old age.. Perhaps even ascend the mere boundaries of mortality themselves..

Those with the Dark Lord's favour would always find themselves on the right side of history.. Or so she thought at least. At Xirgoth's absorbtion of Fidi's shadows, she somewhat balked.. No matter, at that challenge she went through the motions.. this time they were easier; forming an orb.

However she didn't want to simply make an discharge an orb.. No.. this time she would try and see what else she could do. Occult energy flooded back into her, the orb dissipating in her palm. As she reabsorbed it, she decided to seep it out of herself.. Onto the ground, more concentrated.. around her body.

As bright, hellish light seemed to from beneath her, it lingered, before fading away.

The interesting feeling that brought to her was of... destruction, and leeching.. The grass beneath her had been turned even darker purple, some of it even rotting away.

To her amazement, it seemed as if she had robbed the area of some of its lifeforce, and in turn she felt her internal energy grow slightly.
(Serafina)

With the child gone, it seemed they had been taken to extending their training beyond the meager speech. Which, it couldn't be blamed. Instead now, focusing solely on the kin before it. Watching in idle curiosity at the shadow snakes all gathering around fidi.

"Must... Further, control... Further, train... Maybe, speak, with others. Or return after, honing... Battle, while extremely dangerous. Also could serve to fill you whole. In this practice." A mere, suggestion. One that not even the demon expected to take into account.

After-all, at such a feeble stage. It was more of a death sentence than actual training. Yet, isn't that what allowed them the capacity to grow so quickly? Much unlike the rest of the world, they were truly predators the longer they survived. Bypassing death each time it arrives.

"Am sure... Going to, master. Name... Is, Xirgoth. Yours, kin? Can see now, one is ready. To learn on own. For while."

Slowly crawling to a stand, shaking its legs out; one length foot out at a time. Shaking free the magical concentration to which had gathered around it rather naturally. Like snow, its body beckoned the dark arts at almost all times.

"Can return... Less, desire. More, training."
(Xirgoth)

There is always more control to be honed.

But it's almost as if another being entirely watches him, it's the shadowy snakes that choose to follow him after all- a display in which they carefully ascend to traverse the body of the Serpent, as if they could be very well their companion for all of the time from now on.

Is he watched? Or does he merely tell himself that?

Yet, these shadows are given life of their own- for while the forked tongue extends in and out of its maw to pick up on various chemicals, so do the shadowy snakes all around his form. They thrive without his command..

Yet, they seem to follow it readily.

"The danger issss what makesss our kin sssstronger."

Fidi realized that fact very well. In truth, while it rapidly grew, he was more than certain he'd be meeting with the magi that readily wronged him the last time.

"It issss Fidi."

The gaze of the Serpent finally turns towards Xirgoth. The snakes were seemingly tamed for now..

How far would it go, however? That remains to be seen.
(Fidi)