Disclaimer: All concepts from Timescapes Belong to Jessica 'Neon Dragon' Peffer. Check out her excelent artwork at !
Warning: This chapter contains severe gore, torture and mutilation, as well as unforgivably cheesy pick-up lines. A lot of them.
Chapter 1: Deadly Boredom
In the Shadowrealm, all was not peaceful. Well, things were never peaceful in the Shadowrealm, but at the moment things were even less so than usual. The circumstances, you see, were somewhat extenuating. What circumstances, you might ask? You would not like the answer if you were to ask such a question. Unfortunately for you, puny mortal, you shall be told, regardless.
Kimuri was bored.
Yes, you heard me right. Now, you may ask this: Who is Kimuri and why are you making his boredom out to be such a travesty? I answer this, unfortunate one. Kimuri is the younger son of Lord Darkness. Call him Heir to the Shadows, if you meet him. If you do you might not die slowly. You might be fortunate enough to die quickly. Then again, you might not. Flattering the Prince of Darkness' ego is a good plan, but it's not always sure. It's better to just avoid him altogether if possible.
Unfortunately, not everyone has the luxury of such avoidance. The servants, for example. And it is on these poor souls that Kimuri's boredom is the most trying. Do you really want to know? If you do you must be sick and depraved. But that's your problem not mine. Read on…
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Lord Darkness started and dropped his book as a piercing scream rang through his blackstone castle, shattering his concentration. Damn! His son must be awake. And it had been such a relaxing morning. He'd eaten a tasty breakfast of raw meat and single malt whiskey, taken a relaxing stroll down by the lavafall, and began perusing his new book, The Life and Times of Hannibal Lechter. Interesting man, Mr. Lechter. Very cultured, good taste, a plethora of wonderful recipes to his credit…
Lord Darkness made a point to enjoy his mornings, for Kimuri always rose around noon, and once his younger son was awake, peace was not to be found. The ruler of demons sighed and stood from his monstrous throne, resigned to seeing what unfortunate sap had attracted the boy's attention this time, and what he would have to pay the servant's union in recompense. Hopefully Kimuri wasn't using the good silverware again. After he'd developed that fetish for maiming his victims with spoons, Lord Darkness had been forced to insert a 'Death By Utensil' clause in the union charter. He'd tried hiding the silverware, but Kimuri had come across a box of plastic sporks left over from the last Doomsday picnic. The results of that fiasco had cost a small fortune, and taken the servants days to clean up. They never had found Bartholomus' left foot.
Lord Darkness followed the pained cries through dank corridors and into the basement. He wondered what his son was doing down here. Kimuri was a creature of indulgence and comfort. He rarely descended to the bowls of the castle, where rooms were used for storage and utility. He found out as he rounded a corner and came into a small room dominated by a workbench. Kimuri had discovered the repair-demon's workshop.
The repair-demon himself was stretched out on the workbench, his head held firmly in a large vice-grip. His ankles were tied to the bench with barbed wire and his left arm was held down with dozens of nails, looking as though it had been attacked by a rogue nail-gun, which it probably had. The right arm was mostly gone. Other parts of him were also missing and blood was everywhere. Tools were strewn carelessly across the floor. Standing over the poor demon was his tormentor.
Kimuri was tall and slender, with a delicate face and very long amethyst hair. Being a vain and proud creature, he took careful care of the silky mane. He'd been mistaken for a girl on occasion. Those who had made this error hadn't died for many, many agonizing days. Kimuri had nicknamed himself, in a fit of ego, 'Bringer of a Very Painful Death.' It was a title well earned, self-glorifying though it was. At present he was liberally splattered with his victim's lifeblood. In one hand he held a power drill and in the other was a manual of some sort. His large violet eyes scanned it intently.
"Lets see…'Drill holes in points A, D, and F'…" he read aloud. Without looking away from the manual he placed the tip of the drill on the repair-demon's kneecap and squeezed the trigger. The trapped creature released a blood-curdling shriek as the tool burrowed into the joint with a horrible grating sound.
"Kimuriiiii!!!!" roared Lord Darkness. His son didn't even flinch, instead looking up as he retracted the drill.
"Oh, hiyas pops," he said as a spurt of blood followed the drill tip and splattered his pale cheek. "Whatcha doin' down here?"
"I might ask the same of you! And how many times do I have to tell you, address me as Lord Darkness."
"I'm just learning how to fix things," replied the purple-haired teenager innocently as he picked up a hand saw and applied it to the repair-demon's left horn. Bone powder flew as he worked it vigorously back and forth. He gave that activity up quickly tough, as it elicited nothing but a groan from his 'project.' He left the saw stuck halfway through the horn and picked up a pair of needle-nose pliers instead.
"Why must you do this every day? Can't you maybe cut it down to twice a week? The union compensation is costing a fortune!"
"So, cancel their maternity coverage," suggested the young demon as he attempted to grip an eyeball with the pliers. The slippery orb evaded grasping though, and Kimuri settled for yanking out a few teeth to accompanying howls.
"Why would they no longer need their matern…" A very, very evil grin spread across the boy's face. "Never mind, I don't want to know. Whatever it is, I forbid you to do it again."
"Alright, then how about the dental plan?" said Kimuri, examining a molar.
"Damn it! Stop that!" thundered Lord Darkness. "You are hereby forbidden to use power tools! No, make that ANY tools!" Kimuri's eyes grew wide and his lower lip trembled.
"B-but, daddy…"
"I've told you! It's Lord Darkness, even to you!" reprimanded the frustrated father. He wasn't going to fall for Kimuri's teary-eyed act. That one didn't work any more. "Now, go to your room and stay there until dinner!"
"Yes, Oh Great and Mighty Lord Dorkness," said Kimuri with a pout as he slouched out of the room. Lord Darkness groaned at his son's insult, but it wasn't anything new. It was Kimuri's favorite joke.
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By suppertime Lord Darkness had softened toward his son again. He always did. Kimuri was his only living heir, and had always been his favorite. He was stronger than his older brother had been, a fact that played a large part in the fact the Kimuri was still alive and the other was not, sibling rivalry being a deadly business in the Shadowrealm. His strength also meant there was a strong chance the throne would stay in their bloodline for at least another generation. It generally went to whomever was strong enough to hold it. The current ruler had simply been Darkness until he usurped the position from the previous Lord.
Favorite or not, Lord Darkness knew that Kimuri's torture and dismemberment of the hired help had to stop. His most recent victim had barely survived and would be crippled for the rest of his life. Lord Darkness had paid a handsome sum to the repair-demon and his family in reparations. It wasn't really the loss of life or cruelty that Lord Darkness was bothered by. They were demons after all. It was the drain on the treasury that was the most disturbing part of his son's behavior.
He'd been trying to find a way to curb his son's bloodlust for some time now, but the answer hadn't come to him until that day. As he was walking to the repair-demon's home to personally deliver the reparations money, his path had taken him past the market and he'd realized that the average slave cost a quarter of the amount he was forced to pay out to the union workers on a daily basis. Even if Kimuri killed a slave a day he would be saving a bundle. Better yet, slaves were generally all from the Prime Material Plane, the world that rested between the Shadowrealm and the Old Kingdom. Who cared if humans got tortured and mutilated? And if demon-kin stopped receiving such harsh treatment in the home of the ruling family, the general populace's demeanor might become more favorable.
"Kimuri," he began as his son took his seat at the vast ironwood table. "I want you to…" He had to stop and sigh, for his son was paying no attention whatsoever, instead putting all his concentration into directing cheesy pick-up lines at Lord Darkness' closest advisor, an exquisitely beautiful demoness named Xenith.
"Have you got a mirror in your pocket?" he asked innocently.
"Shut up, you moron," replied Xenith coldly. Kimuri paid no attention to this, reinforcing his father's theory that the boy was selectively deaf.
"…'Cause I can see myself in your pants!"
"I'm not even wearing pants. This is clearly a dress."
"I like fire, and that's good, 'cause girl are you hot!"
"I like smart people, and that's good, 'cause man are you dumb."
"I'm like a rubix cube. The more you play with me the harder I get."
"Knock it off before I knock you out."
"You be the titanic, I'll be the iceburg and you can go down on me!"
"How about you cool your jets before I put you on ice."
"If I bit my lip would you kiss it better?"
"No."
"If I flip a coin, what are the chances of me getting head?"
"Zero to none."
"That means I'd get tail…"
"Chase your own tail, you dog."
"If I said you have a nice body, would you…"
SMACK!!
Xenith picked up her plate and walked out of the room to dine elsewhere. It was always the same routine. Lord Darkness didn't even know why she bothered coming anymore. She could order the servants to serve her in her rooms.
"She wants me," said Kimuri with a leer as he picked himself off the floor. (Random Fact: Xenith is the only person who can strike Kimuri without being slowly roasted on a spit over a mesquite flame.)
"Of course, son, but listen," said Lord Darkness, seeing his chance to present the idea he'd come up with. "I am hereby forbidding you to ever torture, maim, mutilate, kill, hurt, harm or touch the servants in any way ever again."
"What?!" Kimuri's countenance turned ugly and Lord Darkness hastened to continue. He knew his son would someday take the throne from him, but he didn't want it to happen at that very moment, and his words were enough to instill mutiny in the boy.
"Instead," continued his father quickly. "I am going to set up an account with the slave master in the market. You may purchase one slave per day to have fun with, whichever catches your eye on that day, price no issue." Kimuri's face relaxed again as he considered this.
"Just one?"
"Yes, just one! You've managed to keep your dismemberment of the servants to one a day, I think you can control yourself with slaves as well."
"But overworlders are more fragile than demons," replied the purple-haired young demon. "They break more quickly."
"Look at it as a chance to refine and hone your techniques by learning to cause the maximum amount of pain with the minimum amount of damage."
"Okay," said Kimuri with a shrug. Lord Darkness breathed a silent sigh of relief. Thank badness the boy had gone along with it so easily. When he set his mind against an idea it took heaven and high lava to turn him around.
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The next year and a half were wonderful for Lord Darkness and the servants, for Kimuri took to the slave idea whole heartedly, and this satisfied him enough that he left everyone else alone. The drain on the treasury lessened to a bearable flow and the quality of household help increased as fear of working in the castle dissipated. However, just after Kimuri's 18th birthday, things changed once again. For better or for worse depends on who you ask.