Author's Notes: The Unendingly Large Featherbed, I forgot to mention, is Xaxres' creation. And yes, it is Unendingly Large.
Something Eternal, Part III
The next day, She did not summon Lei, and when he reached the throne room, there was a large sign hung upon the doors proclaiming, "I'm BUSY". Somehow, it managed to promise unmentionable atrocities to any interlopers without saying any more than that.
Left to his own devices, Lei wandered.
The Sea of Chaos changed appearance unpredictably according to L-sama's whims. Right now, it was a labyrinthine marble palace, filled with spiralling staircases and twisting pillars and all sorts of other architectural impossibilities. The whole thing was lit dimly by a seemingly sourceless golden light. After all, it was the Sea of Chaos.
He didn't encounter anyone else during his explorations. Not a soul.
Lei stopped to admire the view from a sharply arched window and wondered about what the Lord of Nightmares' days were like. Did She ever feel lonely? Was that why She had created the Four Worlds? What kind of insane intelligence had Her aeons of near-absolute solitude produced?
Did She even know what loneliness was?
He wondered if Rugradia's cage of ice would have been better. He wondered if he might not go just as mad here as Shabranigdo had.
By the third day of his explorations, he was rather irritated. He didn't appreciate being made to wait like a minor functionary or a temple novice, not even by the Lord of Nightmares. He wanted to know why he was here, and not, say, frozen under the Kataart range.
He came to a junction, and turned left.
Behind him, a door clicked shut.
Signs of civilization! Lei thought dryly. He turned around.
The other branch of this corridor was long and slightly. At the end of it stood a pair of tall doors, the only doors in the length of the hall.
How melodramatic. Lei trailed his fingers along the lace-like stonework. The doors were made of dark, unpolished wood. There was a large, iron knocker set into it.
Lei knocked. When no reply came, he tried the handle, and found it unlocked.
Inside was a gargantuan black-stone cave. Long streamers of translucent crimson silk hung from the shrouded ceiling down to the floor. Globes of dark brandy-coloured light floated throughout the hall, like topaz and amber set afire.
Standing in the darkness was a man, tawny-skinned and beautiful.
Ceiphied, Lei realized.
"You must be Lei Magnus," Ceiphied enunciated, distaste dripping from his voice. "Get out."
Lei blinked, then remembered what L-sama had said. I'm afraid Ceiphied isn't going to take this very well.
Understandable, Lei supposed.
"If you wish," he replied.
"I do wish," Ceiphied snapped. He punctuated his words with a wall of fire that erupted at Lei.
Lei left. He remembered to shut the door behind him.