Strongest
Chapter 2: Maternal Salome
Written By Illuminet
Disclaimer: The cast of character from Makai Kingdom : Chronicles Of The Sacred Tome do not belong to me, and are the rightful property of N.I.S (Nippon Ichi Software) America.
"..."-Indicate Speech
'...'-Indicate Thought
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Zetta's Netherworld, Overlord's Castle, Highest Spire
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'The future...something is blocking my visions...or someone...'
The little girl with the long green hair shaped like wings at the end pondered to herself. She was dressed in a two piece set of blue pajamas, and a matching pair of slippers fashioned like Prinny heads (Made from genuine Prinny skin, too!). It had already been about a month since Trenia had taken up residence with Zetta in his castle. The public found this to be a curious thing at first, because why would Zetta have little girls live with him in his castle? Underage bondage fetish, maybe? He was still a book, but he had his ways of doing things if they so pleased him. Zetta had mostly swayed their judgement by saying he had gone across many a world to find a true Oracle after Pram's confession, and Trenia was the one to fill that role. She had even given out a few predictions that proved to be true, ending any scepticism. Right now, the all-knowing girl felt worried, which was quite uncommon for her. It didn't have to do with the fact that she couldn't predict the future right now either. It was more because of the presence that might be behind it.
'This sense of unease that clenches my heart...it's coming...but what is -it-, exactly? The flow of Mana is distorted, blocking all my senses from finding out what is happening with the Universe. Could this be...unfortunately, there's no way for me to find out...all I can do is wait, and hope...'
She clasped her hands together in small prayer.
'...I should also warn Zetta about this. He may be able to help.'
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Zetta's Netherworld, Overlord's Castle, Throne Room
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Salome tilted her head slightly, showing an expression of confusion.
"You summoned me over here by telepathy, remember? You said you needed my help for something, and when I tried to contact you in order to find out more details, you didn't answer, so after a few failed attempts at that, I simply decided to come over as fast as I could. So...what happened that requires my assistance?"
She asked after giving him her explanation. He quirked an eye brow in confusion of his own.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
He asked her, perplexed, but then things finally donned on him.
'Wait a minute...DAMN! I did call her by telepathy...in my stupid dream. Then she really did hear it...this is bad...what if word get's out that we're together like this? And at four o' clock in the morning, her dressed in a sexy translucent black night gown and...oh damn! She's not even wearing a bra underneath! Oh, the demonity of it all!...tch, why is my mind wandering in such perverted territory? She's gotta get out of here...I can't have anyone thinking I'm reciprocating her feelings or wanting to marry her, dream or no dream. Besides...Overlords only marry because of wealth, status, power, and sex, not love. I just can't do that to Salome, though...ahhh shit, now I sound like a damn pathetic infatuated human man. It must be this book body of mine's fault...yeah that's it, I would never think in such a disgusting way if I was back in my original body. So then...how do I approach the situation at hand?'
He pondered to himself, closing his eyes as Salome's body was proving too distractive. It wasn't lost on Salome to see that he was acting peculiar, because Zetta went from looking mildly confused, to totally furious, to going red with embarrassment, to calm and serious, and finally to his typical thoughtful expression. Before she could dwell on it further and ask him what was wrong, he spoke.
"You must be mistaken, Salome. I never contacted you by telepathy. You were probably just dreaming it up or something and headed over here by accident. Just head back to your Netherworld and get back to sleep."
He lied, heading for the double doors at the right from his throne, where his personal chambers were situated.
'If I just go to bed, she'll probably get the hint and just go back...yeah, that'll work. Hopefully...'
He went as fast as he could, which wasn't that fast, being a book and all. Salome was now left alone, unconvinced.
'He's lying...he took way too long to answer and averted his gaze from my own, and those are the typical symptoms of when he lies about things. I'm a light sleeper, so when he called out to me, it instantly woke me up. He called out twice, to be exact, before claiming he needed help. Maybe the real question then would be why he needed my help...but, judging by his behavior, he'll be too stubborn to tell me anything, but why be so embarrassed about it in the first place as well?'
She thought to herself, her lips pursing into a frown.
"You've got me very curious about whatever help you wanted from me, Zetta...I suppose I could always ask Trenia, but that would be an invasion to your privacy, so I'll drop it."
She said to herself, preparing to teleport away, until the double doors swung open at the entrance of the Throne Room. Salome and Trenia's eyes met. The female Overlord spoke first.
"Speak of the devil...Hello, child. Shouldn't you be in bed?"
Salome offered. The little girl smiled cutely, but her eyes seemed distractedly worried.
"Oh...hello, Lady Salome. What brings you to Zetta's castle?"
Trenia asked. Her voice sounded cheerful, yet something was off about it, just like her eyes. Salome looked slightly puzzled.
"What's wrong? In all our meetings, I don't think I've ever heard you ask a question before..."
The Overlord said, putting a finger to her lips in thought. Trenia nodded in agreement.
"Back then, I knew what would happen and so no questions needed to be asked, however...tonight has changed. The future can no longer be seen as anything but a black void."
Trenia mentioned, her voice becoming dead serious. Salome's eyes widened in surprise.
"Huh? Black void..."
Salome wasn't sure of what to make of the young girl's words. Trenia started heading for Zetta's chambers.
"I must speak with Lord Zetta. I think he is involved with the loss of my ability."
Trenia said as she made her way to the double doors that led to his chambers. Salome now stood right next to her.
"You think he is involved? How?"
Salome asked as she looked down at Trenia. The young girl let out a soft sigh.
"Your entitled to know since it involves the man you love, Lady Salome...and I wish I could be completely sure of my belief, but everything I will tell him is pure speculation. Speculation with an incident that happened centuries ago."
Trenia explained, though her words were cryptic at best. She pushed the doors opened before any more questions could be asked, continuing forward, Salome not too far behind.
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Zetta's Netherworld, Overlord's Castle, Personal Chambers (a.k.a Zetta's Room)
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"He still sleeps down in that hole with all those scattered coffins, I see..."
Salome mentioned. For Zetta, everything was conformed to make his original body more powerful. He always slept on the roughest surface he could to build up pain tolerance for his body. So, where ever he choose to sleep during the conquest of other worlds, he chose the most jagged formed rock or drift wood he could and simply lay on it for the entire night, rolling about on it as much as possible regardless of the discomfort. When he got his castle, he had coffins made with bent spikes lining the surface, scattered nails, and broken shards of glass tossed in for good measure. The two females walked down the twisting flight of brick stairs, their only source of light being the dimly lit torches that lined the spiraling staircase's walls. They finally made it to the small graveyard of a room that was Zetta's after a few minutes. Many broken and mistreated wooden coffins laid strewn about the floor. Salome sighed.
"...and he could be sleeping in any one of them..."
Getting through the mess would be tricky, and Salome knew this by past experiences.
(Mini-note: Yeah I know...it's a play off Laharl that way with the coffins, but he was the only one whose sleeping quarters I've seen for any Overlords, thus the only inspiration to draw from.)
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Unknown
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'Huh...? What's that humming sound. Something's touching my face...ah, dammit, my eyes won't open. Is this another whacked out dream like the one earlier?'
He was in total darkness. This was a similar symptom to his previous dream, but the feeling of flesh against his face, and the small humming noise that pierced his keen hearing were the only differences he was experiencing.
'Okay, so if this is just a dream, I should be able to wake up, right?'
He tried to wake up, but nothing happened, as if he were compelled to stay by some unknown force.
'What the hell gives? I don't feel the sensation of spikes prickling my back here, and I still feel like I'm in my original body...'
His thoughts were interrupted when a sliding sound came to his ears, causing his closed eyes to open halfway, squinting as painfully bright light entered his vision. A Prinny, presumably the one from before, stepped in the doorway. It's small frame was nearly entirely shaded black from the light coming into the room from the hallway outside, it's long shadow casting over his body and providing his eyes with much needed relief to adjust.
"Lord Zetta, dood. We've arrived, dood."
The Prinny said. Zetta's eyes opened to normal length as they completely adjusted. He could now see himself in a darkened room of some sort, slumped in what appeared to be a plain steel throne. It had been his fist pressed across his cheek to prop his head up that was the touching sensation he felt earlier. His body moved automatically as it got up, and moved past the Prinny, sparing no words like the last dream. This time, however, he was on what looked like a castle, only much more sparse in comparison to his original castle.
'Where the hell is this? Wait a minute, that large window over there...is that a huge wing out there? Is this some kind of giant vehicle? Whoa! I've never seen anything of this size and magnitude. Its practically a moving castle...'
He surmised, seeing the large glass window out of the corner of his eyes as his body continued forward. He heard the foot falls of other Prinnies in the hallway, and noticed them salute to him before walking on by.
'Strange...I've never seen such organized looking Prinnies before. That's why I never bothered to make Vassals out of them myself. Man, this is one cool place, though, whatever it is...damn, it's just a weird concoction my imagination cooked up in this dreaming state probably. I keep reading into things too deeply here...'
He tried to wake himself up again, but nothing ever happened and it only served to annoy him more and more.
'No matter how nice this is, it's not even reality. Am I really so lamenting of my original body that I'm more compelled to stay trapped in a freaking dream? Screw that, I want to live in the here and now of the real world, dammit. WAKE UP!'
He yelled those words repeatedly until he was sick of it, yet he still remained in his original body, his mind being the only thing he had any control over while his body went around more random and winding halls and stairways. His body finally stood in front of a door that had the word -BRIDGE- labeled over the top of it's frame. The door slid upward, and he and the Prinny walked in, staring before a complex network of computers and other such gadgetry. Everything was controlled by Prinnies of all different types of colors.
"As you can see, the first target we intend to check up on is the lowest planet of this system, and most likely this galaxy's Underworld, dood. He may very well be there, dood."
The Prinny grabbed some papers handed to him from another Prinny before giving them to Zetta. His eyes skimmed through the planet's schematics.
'Huh..? That's Seedle's Netherworld...but why? Oh, I get it. I have been wanting to kick that arrogant ass of a face around for a while now, so maybe this is why I'm so compelled to stay in this dream a bit longer...too bad it ain't real, but I think I've just been hit with some inspiration! When I wake up, maybe I really will go to his Netherworld and beat the living crap out of him!'
His trademark laugh echoed throughout his mind as his thoughts concluded.
-ToBeContinued-
Note: this chapter doesn't really feel quite as good to me as the first one did. I'm sure readers will be seeing a bit more of the similarities between this story and "The White Flower" now, what with the stopping off at other worlds and all. Of course, the emotional energy isn't quite so angst centered as I tried to make it with "The White Flower" and I'm trying to go down a bit of a more comedic route with the hopefully more complex story, but since I'm not a very good humor writer, don't expect too much. Sorry to Bella, but Laharl and the rest won't make it in this one, since the story isn't a crossover. Though, just to let you know, I do have some very tentative ideas for a CO or possibly an AU with Disgaea and Makai Kingdom that might show up in the near future (possibly mid 2006, once this story is complete). Anyway, sorry for the rushed update. I'll try and make up for it with the hopefully more interesting third chapter. Or if I get any free time I might redo this chapter...I'll play it by ear.