AN: Hello! I hope y'all have a good weekend! This is one of two short Interludes that will be posted before the next Chapter! (I kinda just had to write it) Short meaning actually short. I thought about combining them into one upload, but I like the clean 'cut' this way of doing things gives me!
Interlude 4 – Davoth
Arrogance was not a flaw reserved for mortals.
This was a lesson Davoth had been forced to learn quite abruptly, as his realm got sealed off with his own power stolen from him by his own underlings.
He had not expected such a betrayal, feeling secure in both his might and status as the most powerful being in the Universe.
Which is the only reason why those traitors succeeded in the first place.
He had not been prepared for such an ambush, instead expecting them to speak up directly, if they felt discontent with his style of leading or disagreed with his plans.
He would not give up his position of course, but listening to counsel?
Why not? There was no harm in doing so.
But that was not how they did it.
They named him Dark Lord, described him as a Satan, rebelled against him simply because of their lust for a power that wasn't theirs to take.
They said his pursuing of a way to defeat death was wrong.
That the future cost outweighed the gain.
That this was not an endeavor he should be considering, not like he was planning to do.
And yet they themselves did use his power for that very purpose; prolonged his own life and that of their people after his fall.
Hypocrites.
Was it truly surprising then, that his realm became the very Hell they feared?
The very Hell, they claimed, which they desired to prevent, to defend against
Fools and liars.
They had created it, with their own actions and the consequences of their deeds.
He had gotten his revenge of course, in the end.
They may have been close enough to a gods power, to not notice any difference in a comparsion, true.
But only because of his power, the might they tried to fully strip from him.
Tried being the thing of note here.
Of course banishment was the only option they had at that point when they had him subdued and weakened; killing him would burn their reward to ash, would take away the very strength they desired.
It was his after all, they were simply borrowing it.
So he had ranted and raged, vowed to bring death and destruction in his revenge.
Until the burning anger clouding his mind had cooled, and cold hatred took its place.
So he schemed and plotted, deceived and waited, for countless years, for his time to act once more.
And his patience had been rewarded.
He had not expected their prophecies to be genuine, of course.
They read themselves as fanatic scripture, fit only to soothe the masses and inspire false hope.
Predicting a mortal to rise up, one that would be able to challenge and defeat him?
Laughable.
But that this very Warrior, this Slayer, would be the instrument for revenge Davoth had been waiting for?
That was just sweet irony.
He had not expected their hope to create a weapon which use favored himself, the Dark Lord, the one supposed to be defeated once more.
But it had done exactly that.
The Slayer had come far, to be fair, breaking open every sealed path in his way and slaughtering himself through the hordes blocking his advance.
But his strength had limits, in the end.
The mortality they had praised to be better than him was not strong enough for the task at hand.
Davoth had given his foe a warriors death, but that did not change that the outcome had been expected.
Well, by him and his legions at least.
Their Slayer had failed.
And in the midst of their unbelieving shock, he had marched over those very same paths that they had used to challenge him.
To then lay waste to most of creation.
As was his right, of course, and as he had vowed so many, many years ago.
It was no absolute victory – there were still stragglers, pockets of resistance, made of different races, scattered around the realms, hidden away.
But they were not more than an annoyance.
And a steady reminder of his final victory at the same time.
He did not truly mind them existing for that very reason.
So when he got contacted by one of his Marauder generals that there was an intruder at one of the small temples, he was not overly worried.
They would fail at whatever task they tried to do, like all the others.
And their tortured soul would gift new life to his people.
(Because he had found a way to defeat death, in the end. The solution had been directly in front of him and he had been blind to it.)
Victory dulled the senses.
Arrogance was not a flaw reserved for mortals.
But the Dark Lord Davoth, Supreme Ruler of Hell and the True First Being had forgotten this painful lesson.
Would he be reminded once more?
AN: As I said, actually a small insight this time. And a bit of foreshadowing too, I guess. Next Interlude will be about Earth Bet by the way, so stay tuned!
EDIT: The second "short" Interlude is refusing to be any sort of short... because of course. It includes different scenes with different characters. I know I wrote in the authors note at the top that I like the 'clean cut' way of doing things (which is true), but uploading multiple short parts one after the other does feel a bit weird. So a quick question: Do you guys want a combined mini-chapter, made out of interludes? Or do you want them to be uploaded solo and separate?
