Note: I do not own Disgaea or any of its characters. All original characters do belong to me.
Omnia mors aequat
Lightning arced across the sky, illuminating the ancient castle for a moment before plunging it back into darkness. Seconds later the sky flashed white again as heavy rain pelted the castle's walls.
The castle was old, built millennia before even the oldest dragon had born, and decorated with many stone sculptures depicting various creatures and demons. It was said that the castle's original lord had turned his servants to stone so that they would guard the ancient stronghold long after their master's death.
The rain and wind pelted the statues with great ferocity, as if nature itself sought to torment the trapped souls contain within the stone statues. The lightning flared and shadows sprang to life as nature roared into full force. The statue of a great wyrm seemed almost of it were alive as the lightning played near it and the howling wind raced about it. The rain sprayed across the beast's stone skin and its shadow flailed wildly as if screaming for its soul's release. The lightning was almost following itself immediately now as the storm reached an intensity that was so fierce it seemed to embody the very nature of the Netherworld itself. The great wyrm, arms raised, roared into the storm as its shadow danced madly behind it. The tempest, responding to the challenge filled the night sky with electricity and let loose a roar of thunder that shook the mountains.
And as quickly as it had begun the storm died down, rain still fell onto the statues but the thunder grew further away with every roar. The great wyrm, who had so fiercely fought for its freedom now lay in pieces upon the hard rock of the castle roof, the sheer power of the lightning having blown its great stone body apart. And thus the castle lost another guardian to the ravages of time and nature.
Minutes later another sound joined the harsh cacophony of the pounding rain and distant thunder.
"Why the hell do we have to come out here? Couldn't it wait until the storms over?"
The voice came from a puck, who was clearly not enjoying being outside in the rain. He was accompanied by a scarecrow who was furiously trying to light a cigarette despite the heavy rain.
"Bah!" the scarecrow exclaimed, tossing the cigarette to the ground, "I don't like the weather any more than you do, pal. But the boss man wants us to check and make sure that freak lightning show didn't blow a hole in the ceiling. The last thing this old junk heap needs is more holes." The pumpkin demon pulled out another cigarette and tried lighting it.
"You got that right. But still, this is grunt work. Why doesn't he get the new guy to do this?"
Failing to light his cigarette, the scarecrow discarded the soggy stick and withdrew a new one. "The new 'guy' is a succubus. And she is currently busy "attending" to the lord, and we're next on the totem pole. If you'd just shut it and keep walking then we'd be done."
"And if you'd stop smoking like a chimney than maybe you'd live past 3000," the puck retorted.
"You sound like my mother."
"You're a pile of hay stuffed into a burlap-sack. You don't have a mother."
"Alright fine. You sound like my burlap-sack stuffer."
"That's not what I meant."
By then the two demons had reached the spot where the great wyrm had once stood. Holding up a lantern to survey the area the scarecrow could only let out a low whistle at the scene lain out before him.
"Sweet Bejebus, what happened here?" the puck finally exclaimed.
"The lightning must have done it. The boss isn't going to be happy about this, he always liked that statue." The scarecrow exclaimed as he tried to light yet another cigarette.
"Good riddance I say. That statue always creeped me out, always looked like it was about to come alive and bite your head off."
"Well as long as the roof is still one piece it's not really our concern, let's get back inside. I'm starting to hit the first symptoms of withdrawal." The pumpkin demon said as he threw another cigarette to the ground.
"Wait a minute. Was that statue always there?" the faery demon asked pointing to an object just a few feet away from the remains of the great wyrm.
"There are hundreds of statues in this castle, man."
"Yeah but that one doesn't look right, shine the light over here." The scarecrow complied with a heavy sigh.
The statue was of a small male humanoid, dressed from head to foot in a tight-fighting uniform with a large scarf covering the lower half of his face and hanging down past his back. Unlike the other statues that were mostly positioned in threatening and imposing positions this one looked almost at ease. Hand held in front of its face with the index and middle finger raised, the statue appear almost ready to jump to life.
The puck ran his hands across the statue, his fingers dragging across the cold, hard stone. "I don't remember there ever being a statue like this up here."
The scarecrow was growing impatient with his companion, "It's just a stupid statue man. It'll be here tomorrow when an ocean's not failing from the sky. You can stare dreamy eyed all you want then."
"It just looks so lifelike."
"So do half the other statues. If you don't come now than I'm leaving you here, I hope you can find your way back in the dark. The castle walls are pretty high."
"Alright! Alright. I'm coming." The puck turned away from the statue and followed his friend.
"By the way, what the hell's a Bejebus?"
"I dunno. It's just something I heard a human say once."
"When were you talking to a human?"
"Remember a few years back when King Laharl shot down that human invasion force?"
"That was over 400 years ago."
"Yeah. Anyways, one of those "starship" thingys they had crashed near my place. I heard some of the humans say it when we went to check them out."
"You mean before you killed them."
"Well yeah, I was still living at home then so Dad did most of the killing. Fed us for months."
"Nice. Too bad the whole 'eating other races' is forbidden now."
"Not really. They didn't taste that good anyways."
As the voices faded away the roof once again returned to silence. Minutes passed and the rain pounding into stone was the only sound. The small statue of the humanoid stood silently in the rain. Slowly, almost invisibly the statue shifted. White eyes opened and scanned the surroundings. Certain it was alone the statue let his disguise fall, stone changed to pale flesh and silver hair fell loosely on his head. Rock changed to black cloth, the scarf changed from grey stone to crimson red.
The demon flexed his muscles, relieving them of the stiffness his disguise had invoked. Blank white eyes registering everything around him, the demon moved along the roof with absolute silence and precision. He moved among the stone statues as if he was one of them, completely invisible to even the most attentive of onlookers. He was as silent as a shadow as he followed the path the two demons had taken earlier, finding his way perfectly without the use of a light.
Few knew of this man's existence and fewer still his true name, to the rest he was known simply as Death's Shadow, a killer of such skill that it was thought that he could use the very shadows around him as deadly weapons. Indeed many thought that he was in fact Death itself taken corporal form. Those that did know him found this laughable. This man was far more dangerous than Death could ever be.
Noticing light ahead the Shadow silently crept up along the wall to stop just before the door. Listening for movement the man slowly began to expand his senses. It was a rare technique, one that only the most experienced martial artists learned and few mastered, but no other demon could match the Shadow's mastery. Sensing no life in the next hallway, the demon silently opened the door and slid inside.
The hallway was well lit; torches lit with magical fire lined the walls. Making his way down the hallway the Shadow moved without a sound, senses extended to detect approaching demons.
Reaching a fork the Shadow turned left, knowing exactly where his destination lay and how to get there. Moving with a speed that belayed the complete silence he moved in the demon passed through the stone labyrinth in minutes, carefully avoiding all contact with sentries. Secrecy was paramount in his mission and it wouldn't do to have even a single rat aware of his presence. Working his way past the servant's quarters and down the stairs the humanoid demon soon found himself sprinting down a long hallway leading to the main hall.
Sensing a presence ahead, the Shadow froze. Knowing that it would take too long to reach the corridor branching off the hallway behind him the Shadow had few options remaining; it would be little challenge to simply kill the guard and dispose of the body out a window, but he had been ordered not to kill outside of self-defense. With no other option the assassin began to scale the wall. He disappeared into the shadows near the ceiling moments before a prinny rounded the corner ahead carrying a plate of food. The small creature was clearly in a hurry and it passed underneath the Shadow without looking up, mumbling to itself. "Dood…."
After the small bird-demon had left the Shadow remained hanging upside down from the ceiling for a moment before dropping, flipping mid-air and landing perfectly on his feet without a sound.
Continuing his infiltration the Shadow soon found himself at the door to the main hall. The demon's destination lay through the hall and past the audience chamber beyond. Silently pushing past the door the Shadow found himself entering the castle's main hall.
Giant stone columns rose from the floor along the exterior of the room, holding the roof eighty feet above. Through the center of the hall, from the massive entrance doors to the equally massive doors to the audience chamber a red carpet was laid, made of the finest fabric in the netherworld, the carpet was primary to show off the wealth of the castle lord than to perform any sort of welcoming function.
While the rich carpet was impressive it was nothing compared to what stood on either side. Arranged in eight columns, four to each side, were hundreds of stone statues, all of demons dressed ready for battle. An entire stone army, placed to fight off trespassers into their domain.
At the far end of the hall, in front of the massive doors he knew lead to the audience chambers the Shadow saw a group of demons, obviously guards. Sitting at a small wooden table the guards were far to preoccupied with a game of cards to notice that they had an unwanted guest. Scanning the room the Shadow saw no other way of entering the audience chamber except the large doors.
Not hesitating for a second he quickly ran up the column, moving swiftly enough to counter the effects of gravity the demon assassin reached the top of the column and leapt to the column opposite to him. Leaping across the columns like this, the Shadow was quickly able to reach the wall at the far end of the hall. Clinging to the wall he slowly positioned himself above the group of guards. Silently withdrawing a small package from a hidden pocket inside his uniform sprinkled some of the contents over the heads of the guards. Invoking a simple spell of wind the Shadow had the powder lightly blown downwards, ensuring each demon inhaled some of the drug.
"Did anyone else feel a draft just now?" one of the guards, a hobbit, asked.
"You're probably imagining it, I didn't feel anything," a green ghost responded.
"You don't have any skin or nerves. You wouldn't feel it anyways."
"Maaaaaybeeee……..Prrrrriiiiiiiinyyyyy………leeeeeave doooooooor…….." a zombie offered.
"Does it really matter? I got a full house, kings over queens." A humanoid thief said as the other demons groaned. The thief pulled over the large pile of winnings and added it to his already impressive pile.
"Damn Jinko. You got a horseshoe up your a-" a manticore began before the rest was interrupted by a loud yawn.
"What's the matter buddy? Up past your bedtime?" the thief known as Jinko laughed.
"I gettin kinda tired too…." The hobbit mumbled before falling face first into the table, snoring loudly.
"Fraaaank……. Sleeeeeeeeepyyyyyyy………." The zombie soon joined the hobbit.
"What the hell's going on with you guys?" the thief asked his friends, almost panicking. Looking around he saw that the ghost and manticore had also fallen asleep. The thief made to get up and go get help but he stopped suddenly. "Woah… I'm sleepy too… ah… hell…" the thief pitched over backwards, sending his small chair clattering away.
Waiting a few moments to hear the rhythmic sounds of the thief's soft snores, the Shadow let go of the wall and allowed himself to fall to the ground. Landing without a sound he surveyed his work. Something about the thief bothered him; it took almost too long for the drug to have effect. He quickly dismissed the thought; the drug was known to have varying results from person to person so he just took it to mean that the thief had a higher immune system than normal.
Testing the door, the Shadow saw that it was locked. It was little effort to pick the lock, and the Shadow allowed himself a small smirk of triumph at the ease of it all. His victory was short lived, as the silence was broken by the click of a gun being cocked just a foot behind him. Cursing himself mentally for his arrogance, the Shadow froze.
"No sudden movements or I paint that door with your brains," the voice of the thief echoed in the silent room. Stretching his senses out, the Shadow could feel the demons still asleep nearby. Somehow the thief had not been affected by the drug but he was the only one.
When he failed to get a response from his hostage the thief laughed mockingly, "Nothing to say, eh? You damn shadow ninja are all the same."
The Shadow stiffened slightly, not enough for any normal person to notice but apparently the thief was far from normal.
"Surprised? Yeah, I know what you are. You can turn around now."
The Shadow turned just enough to see the thief from the corner of his eye. The humanoid was dressed like a typical thief; loose green clothing hanging off his muscular limbs with long dark blue hair tied back by a dark green bandana. He also had a powerful looking revolver leveled at him. The Shadow knew that even he could not outrun bullets at such close range.
"You were faking," the Shadow's hollow voice did not echo. The thief nodded in response. Slowly, using the hand hidden from the thief the Shadow silently drew a small throwing knife from within the folds of his uniform.
"That's the trouble with Dark Arcanum. Someone who knows how to recognize the drug's symptoms can fight the effects. To be fair, not many people know the drug." The thief remarked with a smug smile.
The Shadow said nothing.
"I'd ask you what you were doing here but I know your type well enough to know that it wouldn't get me anywhere. I'm better off just killing you now."
The Shadow could see the thief's muscles tighten as he prepared to pull the trigger. Moving faster than the eye could see the ninja turned and threw the knife at the thief. The thief cried out as the blade embedded itself into his shoulder causing his shot to go wide missing its target by inches.
Springing up the wall away from his opponent the ninja disappeared into the shadows leaving the thief in silence.
The Shadow watched from above as the thief pulled the knife from his shoulder and began to search the ceiling for him. Several times the thief's eyes passed over the spot he was hiding but the Shadow knew that in the dark, he was invisible. Ready to spring to action if the thief hinted at going for help, the ninja slowly started to crawl across the ceiling.
The thief pulled something out of his pocket with his good hand. From his vantage point the Shadow could see that it was a small sphere of some sort. Using his good arm the thief hurled the ball into the air.
The Shadow watched the sphere as it flew up towards the ceiling. Once it reached the peak of its flight the ball suddenly exploded in a flash of light. The light was so bright that the Shadow had to avert his eyes. Where the ball had once been there was now a miniature sun casting light to all corners of the room. A loud crack was heard and only pure instinct saved the ninja as the stone exploded where he had been moments before. Another crack and the Shadow dodged as another bullet whizzed past his head and took a chunk out of the stone wall.
Leaping across the room to one of the stone pillars the Shadow began to jump throughout the room pillar-to-pillar. Twice he barely avoided being shot as bits of debris from the pillars rained down to the floor. Leaping to the ground the Shadow rolled to the side as a stone soldier's head exploded behind him.
It was time to end this. He had wasted too much time already. Dashing out from amongst the stone warriors the ninja began to run up the center aisle toward the thief. Moving so fast all that could be seen was the red trail left by the trailing scarf the Shadow bounded up the carpet and off the stone statues as the thief tried to hit his quickly approaching target. Three stone warriors exploded into dust as the red blur leapt into the air, scarf expanding out to block all light.
The thief was basked in darkness as the Shadow descended upon him. Bringing his weapon up to try and drive off the great monster before him the only sound that answered was the empty click of an empty chamber. The thief could only cry out in fear as the shadows around him seemed to reach up and pull him down as the Shadow descended upon him. The last thing he saw were the empty pupiless white eyes of the shadow ninja before his world went black.
"Wake up."
The Nosferatu opened his eyes to find a strange figure standing above his coffin. The demon was dressed all in black except for the large red scarf obscuring most of his face. But it was the eyes that the vampire found himself startled most by. They were blank white, without pupils.
"Who the hell are you?" The greater demon made to rise from his casket when the blade of a very sharp curved dagger was pressed into his throat.
"Don't even think about calling for help." The intruder's hollow empty voice sent chills down the spine of the vampire.
"Senator Leonid," the humanoid began, "I represent Lady Etna. I have not killed any of your servants as a gesture of good faith."
"Good faith you say? And why did the good 'Lady' deem it necessary to send you instead of coming herself?" Leonid pushed the dagger away from his throat slowly and stood up. The greater demon casually walked past the smaller humanoid to a cupboard. Removing a bottle a dark red liquid he poured a wine glass.
"She believes you'd be more willing to respond to me."
The senator raised an eyebrow at this. "Oh? And who would you be?"
"My name is of no consequence. Lady Etna has been most unpleased with your recent actions on the council."
The vampire chuckled slightly, "She would be, wouldn't she? And I suppose you have come to convince me to change my mind regarding her 'requests'"
The humanoid said nothing.
"I'm afraid you've gone through all the work for nothing then, I am a demon of integrity and my mind will not be changed." As Leonid took a drink from his glass he noticed a blur out of the corner of his eye. Before he knew what was happening the glass was tossed from his hand and the vampire found himself roughly pushed to the ground with a dagger held up to his throat.
"I'm afraid I cannot accept that answer." The humanoid stated flatly from behind him as he pressed the dagger closer against his throat, drawing a small amount of blood.
"You can't kill me. I'm too important in the Assembly!" the greater demon tried to argue.
"Omnia mors aequat." The Shadow replied, "I suggest you reconsider your beliefs. Unless you wish to spend your next cycle as a prinny."
"No! Anything but that!" the greater demon was practically begging now as the dagger dug his throat. "I will agree with whatever Miss Etna requests. I promise!" The vampire let out a visible sigh of relief when the dagger was removed from his throat.
"I expect to hear a yay from you in the council next time. Next time there will be no good faith." The Shadow stated flatly.
"O-of course." The vampire stammered, clutching his throat. Moments later the greater demon found himself alone in the room. Crawling over to the spilt bottle on the floor the castle lord quickly drained the remainder.
Perched atop the ancient castle the Shadow sat beside the statue of particularly violent looking Serpent. Reaching into the folds of his uniform the ninja withdrew a piece of paper. Unfolding the paper a long list of names was revealed. The Shadow crossed off the first name, leaving another forty names. The Shadow allowed himself a deep sigh.
"This is going to be a long night."
Thanks for reading this far. I know I'm not very good but I'm hoping to improve. Please feel free to offer any creative advice you have or just offer your thoughts on the story. I thrive on your opinions people.