Chapter 35: Shadows of the Grimleal
As the energy that is Grima has seeped in through the portal that Jivaro created, it starts to slowly but steadily form into a person. As it does, Jivaro starts to have the portal close in order to make a spot for Grima to stand on.
When we see the person that Grima has become taken full form, we can see it's a man with long, black hair and dark blue skin of at least 6'2". He's wearing a black tunic that looks quite demonic in nature, and black cloth wraps around his hands and feet which still expose his fingers and toes. Most notably about him are the six, black, demonic wings coming out of his back and the six, glowing, red eyes adorning his already creepy looking face.
With the portal closed and Grima having taken full form, the Fell Dragon lands slowly on the ground and calmly takes in his surroundings.
Seeing him and trembling before his presence, Jivaro and the robed figure approach Grima slowly as Jivaro asks, "L... Lord Grima?"
Grima snaps his head quickly to see Jivaro and the robed figure, and eyes them carefully as he says to Jivaro, "I've felt your energy from the other world I was in. May I ask you your name?"
"Oh, uh... certainly." says Jivaro with a smile that still shows a good deal of fear as well as a bow. "My name is Jivaro. Many know me as the Weasel. I'm the one that allowed you your return to this world."
"Is that so?" Grima asks. "Yes... you do have the energy of one that I could depend on. But, we shall see how true that is when it comes time to show me your fullest loyalty."
"Oh, of course." says Jivaro. "Rest assured, my lord, I have nothing but the deepest respect for you."
"I certainly hope so." says Grima. He then turns to the robed figure and asks, "So, may I ask who you are?"
"I promised our leader that I would never reveal my indentity until the time he said I could." says the figure. "Regardless, I am the closest confidant of the new leader of the Grimleal. Well, acting leader. We all know the only true leader among them was Validar."
"Yes, Validar." says Grima in solemn tone. "And we may have need of him again before too long."
"That's what we were hoping to hear, milord." says the figure with a bow.
"So... would any of you know where this acting leader is?" asks Grima "I need to know if I can trust this person who is taking over Validar's position for the time being or not."
"Most likely, he's off playing politics." says Jivaro. "Forgive me, I'm more of a new guy here, and even I don't know the identity of our leader's confidant for the moment. In fact, with his duties, it might be a while before you and our leader ever get to meet."
"Or we could meet right now." says a familiar sounding voice, though sounding a bit more sinster this time. "I felt our lord return, so I decided to cancel all meetings to greet him personally."
"That voice." says Grima. "It can't be."
"Ah, but it is." says the voice.
Eventually, the person who this voice belongs to steps out of the shadows, though from what we can see, their face is still obscured for a moment, but then, the light hits their face and body, and we can see the person is none other than Sephora.
As Grima sees Sephora, he smiles widely and says, "Ah, Sephora! It's been a very long time, my friend. Last time I heard about you, you were causing despair to another part of the world. How did that go?"
"Quite swimmingly." says Sephora. "Of course, I merely pulled a few carrots and sticks here and there to get that ball rolling. It was really Jivaro that lead to the complete destruction of Tauriad. It was... a bit of a test to see if he was worthy of being in the Grimleal or not. And sensing that you were on the verge of being destroyed, I'd say our test in destroying Tauriad proved successful at what we must do in order to get you back to full strength, milord."
"I would certainly hope so." says Grima. "And what would you do to get me back to full strength?"
"Uh-uh." says Sephora waving a finger. "As much as I may respect you, Lord Grima, even I have to keep a few secrets from you. Besides, things haven't taken full effect for us to go forward with these plans. We need to see about finishing the war against the nation of Serris before we can go through with proper proceedures."
Grima grunts and says, "Very well. I'll leave that bit up to you."
"Thank you, milord." says Sephora with a polite bow. "At any rate, you have a new form, you've regained a good deal of your strength as well as consciousness, and now, you're back with us."
"Yes." says Grima. "And now, the next step must be to the return of Validar. As much as I like you, Sephora, you don't have the type of knowledge on how to bring about my full awakening like Validar did."
"Probably not." says Sephora. "But I do know that we're also going to need some serious help as we don't have a lot of the elements we need to bring about your revival like we did back then. So, that said, we're going to need some serious muscle to see about getting that done without so much as a hiccup."
"And what do you propose?" asks Grima, to which Sephora says, "Jivaro has been using the spy network of Serris' imbecile of a king, Hugo to his own advantage on trying to score some very nice information on a new friend that the Shepherds made in a past adventure of theirs. And I'm afraid that this person has both incredible power and a great big liking for your former vessel, Momo."
Grima just grits his teeth at the mention of Momo's name.
"Yes, I thought that the mention of her name would upset you." says Sephora. "But, regardless, you should take the threat of this particular individual very seriously. You see... he's actually a super alchemist named Soltis who apparently has the powers of a divine being. And, while I'd love to be there when you kill Momo, he's basically taken her in as his foster daughter. This means that if you were to encounter him with the power you're at right now, even you wouldn't stand a chance as trying to hurt her would incur his wrath."
"So how in the seven hells is this info supposed to help me?" asks Grima.
"Well, as powerful as Soltis is..." Sephora continues with. "...he's still got quite a few ghosts from his past. Though I wouldn't quite call them ghosts as he did make the mistake of letting them live. In other words, he left the alive at the perfect time for us to take them into our clutches, and use them to our advantage."
"And I suppose you know where we can find them?" asks Grima.
"Precisely." says Sephora. "The Grimleal may have had to lurk in the shadows for a while, but I assure you, we still dreamed of a day we could return you to us, and to the point where no divine power would be able to rid us of you."
"No." says Grima. "It's not divinity I have to worry about. It's Momo."
"I know." says Sephora. "But since she's no longer connected to you, we can see about destroying her for good, so she will no longer trouble you."
"No, I don't want her destroyed immediately." says Grima before he goes into a fit of rage. "I WANT TO SLOWLY RIP OUT HER HEART AND EAT IT BEFORE HER FRIENDS AFTER THEY'VE SUFFERED LONG AND HARD FOR THE WRONG THEY CAUSED ME SO LONG AGO!"
Sephora snickers sinsterly and says, "Don't worry. We will have that happen before you know it."
"You had better." says Grima. "I won't rest until I've mangalized that wretched woman in ways that even most notorious psychopath would find sickening."
"Well, while Soltis is the most dangerous one we have to worry about, I do also worry about the angel, Pit." says Jivaro. "His power and divinity could prove to be a thorn in our side if not dealt with, I feel. But because he has such divinity, I need to see about his capture for my experiments."
"You mean the angel that tried to fight me back in his own world?" asks Grima. "What would you have him do for you?"
"I believe his divine powers might be just the thing I need in order to progress the creation of my ultimate army." says Jivaro. "If I could just get a sample of his blood, my research could go that much further and smoother. Then, I could have the perfect army to have fight by your side, milord."
"Well, we'll just have to see about getting you such a thing, won't we?" says Grima in a wicked manner. "If you have the forces for me to use, I think I can see about procurring you such a sample for your research."
"Really?" asks Jivaro. "Thank you so much, Lord Grima. I am truly grateful."
"Yes, well... until that time comes..." says Sephora. "...may I show you something on my own end, Lord Grima? It's something I'm sure you're going to like."
"Very well." says Grima. "Please... show me."
"Very good." says Sephora. "Follow us, if you will, Lord Grima."
And with that, the four of them leave the shrine. After a while, we see in front of the shrine are a gargantuan gathering of people dressed as various types of soldiers, and all wearing the symbols of Grima on their armors.
"Lord Grima... may I present you with... your new Grimleal." says Sephora. "As I said, we've been rebuilding constantly in the shadows. And in the shadows, we may have to remain for a while, but... I can assure you that nothing will keep us from bringing about your full revival. Nothing."
Grima looks over the crowd of people before giving a sinister smile and says, "You've all done very good. It's nice to know there are so many that still wished for my return even when I was destroyed. I was only thankful that fool, Hades decided to bring me to his Underworld to have me revived. Even better when he got himself destroyed before I could stab him in the back myself. To come back to something like this after so long is nothing short of... GLORIOUS!"
After that, Grima raises his arms into the air at his sides, and the Grimleal all bow before Grima.
"YES, MY GRIMLEAL!" shouts Grima. "I HAVE RETURNED TO YOU ALL! NO LONGER WILL BE TROUBLED BY THE WRETCHED SERVANTS OF NAGA! NO LONGER WILL WE BE FORCED TO ENDURE THE IMPUDENCE AND FOOLISHNESS OF HUMANS! NO LONGER WILL THIS PATHETIC WORLD KNOW SUCH THINGS AS HOPE AND PROSPERITY! DESPAIR AND FEAR ARE THE ONLY TRUTHS IN THIS WORLD! RUIN AND DESTRUCTION ARE THE ONLY WAYS OF SALVATION! AND I, NAY, WE SHALL BRING SUCH THINGS UPON THIS WORLD! FOR WE ARE THE GRIMLEAL! FOR I AM THE BREATH OF RUIN, THE WINGS OF DESPAIR! I... AM... THE FELL DRAGON... GRIMA!"
"GRIMA!" shout the Grimleal as they all immediately come up from their kneeling. "GRIMA! GRIMA! GRIMA! GRIMA! GRIMA!"
"YEEEEEEEEEEEEES!" shouts Grima again. "YOUR LORD AND GOD HAS RETURNED TO YOU ALL!"
"GRIMA! GRIMA! GRIMA! GRIMA!" the Grimleal keep chanting over and over.
After hearing the roaring chanting and cheering for his return, Grima lets out a big and evil laugh like the world has never known before.
To Be Continued in Chapter 36.