Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, everybody! How are you all doing?

Holy lord in heaven, its been a while!

Hasn't it?

Not much happened since my last EUPHORIA chapter, except the fact that an entire week has already passed.

And I'm busy tomorrow... yes, busy on Sunday as I have to travel some 50+ kilometers in order to visit close family.

In other words, I can tell my planned chapters goodbye, unless I manage to write them now.

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

A few hours later... - War Encampment (Marrowdorf) - Alice's Point Of View...

"En uzs istak HARTEN!" The necromancer chanted beside me with a tone full of nonchalance as purplish, magical flames burst out of his charred staff and onto the pile of around two hundred corpses. One could almost hear the dead screaming in relief as the flames turned their already decomposing corpses to ashes and forced their souls to pass on in a blaze of glory."So Jovan, I don't think I've asked you this yet but... how come an aspiring necromancer such as yourself knows how to perform funeral rites?"

Mister Morgue merely offered me an annoyed glance."You're one of those people who think that funeral magic is holy in attribute, right?"

I blinked at him in utter confusion."You mean.. its not?"

He shook his head in disbelief."Good Gods, no! Funeral magic is a special form of magic which is capable of interacting with the souls of the deceased, prying them free of their broken mortal shells and forcing them into the Vortex."

"Vortex?" My question seemed to surprise him."Are you sure that you are a student of Sorrciere?" I let out a sigh."Apologies for not knowing something you consider common knowledge, mister necromancer."

He swallowed down hard as his eyes trailed around us, a small contingent of tired and fairly sheath-happy soldiers surrounded the area in order to protect me from whatever the man might try."R-right. Anyways, the Vortex referrers to a place in the Void commonly known as The Vortex Of Souls or The Crown Of Death And Rebirth, depending on which ancient civilization you ask or whose material you use to study. This mythical place is where everyone of us who isn't sworn to some other divine place, like the heavens for example, goes after dying."

I quirked an eyebrow at seemingly nobody as I turned around to watch the flames. I wonder, where will I go when I die? Most likely into the belly of Chaos, like Alex did after I consumed him."Alright... that explains the magic but not why you know it, Jovan." My statement seemed to invigorate the usually quiet man as he pulled a small black book out of his robes.

This book had no apparent title, either that or I couldn't see it as magic tomes sometimes act that way to those unworthy of them, or any real distinguishing features apart from how shiny its paper pages looked, which was an extreme contrast to the worn-down goat skin from which its cover was made."W-well, this book, written by one of my ancestors, states how knowing Funeral Magic is a must have for any necromancer of any rank because ghosts and other vengeful apparitions pose a mayor danger to all of those who seek to create a permanent lair of sorts. Apparently, many of my ancestors colleagues were brutally murdered by ghosts shoving one spoon too many down their throats, slowly and painfully choking the necromancer responsible for their deaths and making that person join them in hateful undeath."

"Great, as if I needed more reasons to be afraid of my own silverware." I mean, wasn't its high price and upkeep enough? Now I learn how it can actually kill me with the help of some vengeful ghosts. I... I might wanna learn some Funeral Magic of my own, considering how many people I'm liable to murder in my lifetime."Anyways, you said how the book was written by one of your ancestors?"

Jovan nodded ecstatically."Y-yes! It appears that one of my forefathers was an elven wizard who sought asylum within these lands after the events of Blackfall, approximately seven hundred and thirty eight years ago."

"Blackfall?... pardon me, this one I feel like I should know about but I can't put my finger on it." Jovan merely shrugged."This one's just regular worldly history milady, but I guess you weren't taught that in one of those xenophobic institutions which you've most likely attended."

He cleared his throat and promptly burned another pile of corpses before continuing. The corpses in question were all stripped naked and thrown onto the pile in front of us, which was surrounded by a giant wall of risen earth and stone, like a massive funeral kiln... Hmm a massive funeral kiln? Might be a good idea to pretty this place up and declare it a memorial for both those who defended Axilar and those who fell against its stalwart defenders. Hmm, yes...

"Blackfall... hm, where do I even begin. Well, the extremely short version of the explanation would be to say how once upon a time, an evil and ancient Empress came to rule the High Elven Empire of Eloria on the western continent of Iodren. This Empress was a powerful arcane mage who had blood ties to both Lady Vytar and the Cosmic Beast, thus making her a sort-of demigoddess upon the world... the world which she wanted to conquer for herself, of course. She was utterly defeated by heroes from a multitude of sources, even demon kind came to fight against her ascent. Blackfall... is basically the name given to the time after the moment of her defeat to today, as she was named Empress Ash'illithine The Black for all of her atrocious actions."

"... If she was really as evil as your story tells, how come that one of the people running away from her was a necromancer? Pardon my perhaps offensive question." Jovan quirked an eyebrow towards me and blinked."Huh.. And here I thought you'd ask me who and what the Cosmic Beast is... how strange. Anyways, the Empress ruled with an Iron fist and basically exiled any and all of those who she couldn't rightly kill during the first few years of her rule. One of these was a group of people belonging to a caste of elven mage smiths known as the Eilstari and my grandfather was one of them... The Elves don't really consider necromancy as taboo, your highness. In fact, many necromancers and blood mages were highly sought after as doctors and surgeons, as their special powers allowed them to heal wounds which would otherwise be fatal. For instance, if someone got shot through the heart by an archer, a necromancer could cast a spell upon their patient which would keep them in a state between life and death long enough for the patient in question to be healed."

A blink."Huh, I guess that makes sense. The elves do see the world from a much different point of view than humans, orcs and beastkin do."

Jovan laughed for a brief moment before saying."Well, they do call us the younger races for a reason."

"Indeed." I replied with a breath as I turned my head around to the left to see a bunch of people approaching me. One was my trusty mayor Yvain, there was a well-dressed but otherwise humble-looking woman next to him and a trio of servants carrying plates of food in their arms. A duo of soldiers quickly brought a wooden table and placed it next to me as a maid put down a chair for me to sit on."Damn.. being nobility sure is nice." Jovan muttered below his breath as he continued to perform funeral rites one after another.

Yvain approached me with a slight smile upon his face. In fact, the man seemed rather unusually cheery."Milady! I bring good news! The executions have been completed and the corpses of the transgressors are being delivered as we speak. The selection process has finally begun... maybe we'll even be done with all this gruesome work by tomorrow morning at this rate."

"If you joined up with us, it wouldn't be required of you to be doing this right now." Was my rather simple reply as the servants placed food onto the hastily set-up table."I would also probably be dead. Anyways, your majesty, I'd like to introduce you to someone."

He bowed and presented the lady next to him who bowed towards me as well."Hello, young mistress. My name is Sif, Of Yarrin. Soon to be Sif Yvain should everything go according to plan." She spoke with a smirk upon her frame as I quirked an eyebrow at her and then turned towards the mayor. Oh yeah, his name is Gerald and Yvain is the surname... wait, thats totally weird."Congratulations are in order then... also, when the hell did this happen?"

Sif looked somewhat astonished at my rather crude language as Yvain let out a massive sigh."Erm, things like this don't happen overnight, your highness. I've been trying to court this woman for years. I even bought a gold ring for this purpose several years ago and yet, I've never had the courage to confess my feelings properly."

He threw me an inquisitive look which held with it a darker tone before turning towards his lovely, brown-haired fiancee."... until now." He held her hands in his and they shared a kiss in seeming bliss. When I showed no apparent reaction and just kept on eating, the poor girl found the atmosphere far too awkward to continue being here and even the servants around me looked as if they wanted to run away."W-well, I d-did not only come here to introduce myself b-but, also to help the mayors deal with all this. I s-should go. Heres to hope that we can converse in a more... appropriate location next time, your highness." She bowed and left.

I offered one darkened look towards Yvain who merely shrugged. Follow after her, you dumb fu-... whatever, its not my business. Then I turned towards my servants."I'm no longer a three year old girl who needs help while eating.. it is not required of you to just... stand around me doing your best not to appear creepy."

The servants in question all let out a joint breath of relief and quickly made themselves scarce. Yvain patiently waited until everyone was out of sight and general hearing range before taking in a deep breath, dragging a chair of his own to the table and then asking."Alright... I noticed that you caught my tone just now so I assume you know what this is about, right?"

"You have questions." Was my rather asshole-ish reply, carrying an incredibly sarcastic tone. Yvain's eyebrow twitched."Yes, I do indeed, have questions. Quite a lot of them, in fact. For starters; what the fuck is he doing here." Oya oya, that's not a question. That's a statement."Mister Jovan is a necromancer who was unfortunate enough to cross my path to Kilnchapel. He had a small army of soulless monsters with him which all promptly and unceremoniously flopped to the ground once my insane nature shattered his poor, fragile mortal brain to bits."

Yvain turned to look at the man in question, who much to his credit, only shrugged in response."Its the truth."

Another deep breath taken, head turned to face the ground for a moment, then the mayor continued."Alright. That sounds insane enough to be easily believable... which brings me to my second question..."

Yvain closed his eyes, most likely uncertain about how to exactly put this."What is with all the madness around you, your highness?... and why is it so damnably infectious?"

I grinned towards the mayor."Tell me, Yvain... do you know the tale of the Cosmic Beast?"

The necromancer standing next to us blinked and turned away from his funeral pyres for a moment and then said with a rather inquisitive tone."So that's why you didn't ask me about it, you know what the Cosmic Beast is." Again, that's a statement, not a question.. what the hell is up with people's tone's all of a sudden?

Yvain merely let out a sigh."I.. I'm afraid not. I know that its some dark god or whatever that impregnated Vytar and helped defeat the demon invasion from five thousand years ago but that's about it."

I placed the empty plate of food away and pulled another closer to me, licking my teeth as I drool at the sight of the food before me despite not being hungry at all. Hm, wait.. my teeth.. yup, they're all back already. Anyways, lets answer Yvain before his brain explodes all over my good food."First of all, its not a dark god. Its a force of nature which feeds on creatures of Shadow... once those ran out, it turned its attention to the civilized people of the world. Vytar fought against its tyranny... well, all the divines did really, but she took things to an intimate level."

Yvain nodded in slight confusion as I drank some water before continuing the story."Eventually, like every other great evil ever, it was defeated and sent back from whence it came. Turns out, banishing the cosmic beast tore a hole in reality within our world. This hole apparently couldn't be closed for some reason and so Vytar went around gathering capable fighters in order to defend against the cosmic beasts incursions into our world."

"Wait.. but ... the cosmic beast came here on its own, right? It wasn't summoned or anything... Why would it come back to this world through the hole?" Yvain asked with the voice of pure reason and logic. Jovan turned to listen to the story as well. I just shrugged towards them both."Hell if I know. A thing like that has probably lived for eons on end so it might be just because it liked the drama of it all? After all, just coming back to destroy the world using the same method as the first time would be boring, no?"

The two men swallowed down hard in unison, almost as if in fear."Y.. you guys think I'm the cosmic beast, don't you?"

They blinked and yet, neither replied. I let out a massive sigh."Look, I won't deny the fact that I have a connection to it, but I am not the cosmic beast in human form or whatever the hell you two just thought up."

"Right." Yvain and the necromancer both let out a breath of pure relief. Now, Yvain I can understand but..."Jovan? You've been acting... rather curiously for the past few minutes. Is there something about you that I don't know yet?"

The necromancer pointed towards his eyes which shone a purplish, arcane glow."I do believe that I told you this before but I am able to see peoples souls while they are still alive, your highness. And your soul is... peculiar, to say the least."

"Oh? Care to elaborate?" Jovan sighed out harshly before nodding."Well, your soul seems to be a combat zone for at least three divine beings. One of the divines I recognize as Lady Vytar as she marks the souls of her faithful with phantasmal greenery and nature. Like, imagine if a forest grew on your soul."

"And the others?" Yvain asked this in my stead, his curiosity getting the better of him. Jovan turned to look at me with rather intense focus."I.. I honestly don't know. There are two others... One seems to be a twitching, crimson growth of flesh and a thousand eyes, each of which has a thousand iris's. I think its safe to assume that this is the Cosmic Beast, as the thing has been described to take upon the form of a gigantic dire-wolf with an infernal, burning metal jaw and a thousand, thousand eyes covering its body."

He turned his head sideways."And the last... Is.. something."

Me and Yvain blinked in confusion."Something?"

"Yeah, something." Jovan nodded towards us, staring on in wonder."It appears like a giant piece of dwarven machinery, with a multitude of cogs, coils, threads, springs and holy symbols like five-pointed stars and crosses.. and strangely enough the shapes of threatening, fanged snakes; all of which are completely and utterly pure white in color."

The white one.

[God].

Not quite as simple as mother, are you?"I see... and what exactly are these three doing to my soul?"

The necromancer blinked, almost as if in momentary shock."W-well, whatever they were doing, Vytar is no longer a part of it all."

... huh?"Excuse me?"

"The white contraption, divine, thing... one of its snakes just tore into the forest and ripped it out of your soul like it was something it just remembered to do." I suddenly found myself feeling cold inside.

"A-ah, the cosmic beast is... the crimson growth just spread to cover the area previously inhabited by Vytar... and the white stuff... allowed it to happen?.. what the hell is going on here?"

Yvain then broke the spell of confusion with a cough."Milady, lets not continue down this... insane train of thought for now. Please answer this for me; what is your connection to the Cosmic Beast and how is it affecting me?"

"Erm, to be perfectly honest with you Yvain, not even I know the full truth. What I can tell you is that my family is descended from the warriors who helped banish the cosmic beast and keep it out of our world. This has made it pay special attention to my bloodline which manifests in a strange infection that causes members of my dynasty to fall into uncontrollable blood-rage whenever it pleases. Only one person in the family can carry this infection and since my dad died during the war... the infection is now within me."

I took in a breath."As for how its affecting you... I have no idea, but I know that it is doing something. Perhaps some of the older servants within my castle can tell you more? I mean, if anyone's been affected by my dynastic curse, they're probably it."

Yvain nodded in understanding."So you don't know, eh? Well, I had an inkling that may be the case as you appear just as confused as I am most of the time." Another sigh escaped his lips as he stood up and approached Jovan."Mister Jovan, the names Gerald Yvain. I work as a steward in service to our Lady Alice Pendragon over there, though my previous occupation was merely that of a sane city mayor."

"Jovan Morgue, likewise Lord Yvain, though I would not dare call my occupation something sane, I think it may as well be sane in comparison to my current position as Court Death Priest in service of the same young Lady." The two men shook hands, almost as if they each found their future best friend or drinking buddy.

I shook my head and looked away, deciding that the food still present on my table was of much greater importance than the madness happening all around me.

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

And that is it for this chapter of D: Infernal!

I hope you've enjoyed it!

Hm. Not much else to say here, 3.3k words seeems good enough.

As per usual, I shall stay online for a time to edit out mistakes and answer early comments!

Anyways, read and review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!