Meeting
Out of ingrained, if long neglected, habit, Melchiah and Zephon talked in the abandoned sanctuary. They both assumed their evolved forms, to look as intimidating as possible. Zephon was absolutely enraged that he'd been rescued by his inferior, and Melchiah didn't intend to show a moment of weakness. Also out of habit, they were each standing beneath their banners, out of each others reach. Patient as the grave, they waited for the other to speak. Zephon weakened first.
"Why did you…come to me?"
"Brotherly love?" Dripping with sarcasm. Zephon had always seized on every opportunity to mock his brother, sensitive about being one of the weakest clans. "I believe the term is rescue, by the way." A sigh. "I know we have never been…friendly, but I wanted, needed, a break from monotony. Even pointless power struggles. In any event, I did not wish to hand a powerful soul such as yourself to the…entity that revived our brother. Imagine the havoc he might cause having the five most powerful souls in nosgoth in thrall to him."
"Perhaps you are correct. I have always regarded you as inferior, yet you showed no reaction to the sound of the pipes. And I find myself in debt, due to monotony. And yet…I need you. This plane is strange to me."
Each brother was making admissions they should never have made in life. Zephon suddenly laid a dozen eggs. "I have instantly a retinue. They could help you greatly in hunting."
"How did you plan to sustain them? What is there to hunt in this realm? Yet… they could help. Once they know what to hunt. Perhaps we could help each other. My other retinue is even less trustworthy."
"Oh? What is this then? Wraiths?"
"Close. Come to me."
A dozen sluagh sidled out of the shadows. A startled Zephon ordered his fledglings to attack. It was interesting to watch. The zephonim were far more efficient fighters, but they couldn't destroy their foes. A defeated sluagh merely became transparent and fled, returning once it reformed. The sluagh drained their defeated zephonim of their souls. Once he saw this, zephon destroyed a couple by using his rusty soul devouring skills, normally reserved for creating vampires and feeding on souls once dead. But his zephonim did not have this skill, being only fledglings, and fled the sluagh, hiding behind their master. Melchiah called off his sluagh, realizing Zephon would rip them to shreds.Zephon was surprised.
"How did you convince these creatures to hunt for you?"
"Self interest. I'm better at finding food." He held out a couple of green orbs.
Zephon snatched at it. Melchiah jerked back, and the soul dived into a wall before the sluagh could try to absorb it. "These are inedible, by us, at least. My …allies find them nourishing. We may feed on these curious diamonds." e held out something that looked more like a slice of a cake than a diamond to Zephon. Absorbing it, Zephon felt his ears begin to heal faster. They exited the sanctuary together, behaving almost like friends.
I think I pretty much abandoned the personalities they had in the other chapters. This chapter is terrible, but I wanted to see how they'd interact. Comments, anyone?