Chapter One: Taking Stock

Part 1

The first thing on waking in a new world was take stock.

To be a Slayer of Malfeas was to be Exalted. One of the Infernal Exalted to be specific.

Which was freaking weird as Exalted was a pencil and paper RPG where I came from.

~That was part of the idea.~

And of course it also meant I now had a voice in my head.

I wielded hellfire and had a voice in my head. Since when did I turn into mid season Harry Dresden?

~You don't have the knack for thaumaturgy much less Sorcery.~

And apparently it was a chatty voice in my head.

~Would you prefer if I remained silent?~

"Maybe," I answered aloud as I looked around.

Okay yeah I was naked, needed to fix that.

~Well there is a trick-~

"Yeah I know, I picked that one out while I was gestating in the pod," I reminded him... her... honestly I wasn't sure what exactly the first circle demon of Mafleas counted as.

~Technically traditional gender roles don't really~

"Yeah I do not need to hear the details about that," I said as I grabbed my shadow and slung it over me like a robe.

Which it promptly melded into becoming.

My skin also regained a healthy tone rather then it's previous inhuman marble appearance and out of the corner of my eye I noticed my hair was now once again reflecting light. It was still dark, but no longer outright absorbing any photon that dared brush against it in a all consuming shadow. Which while all poetic sounding really just was uncomfortably eye catching and unnerving to look at.

Still... doing that was way more natural then it should have been.

~You'll get used to it.~

"You are not making this less creepy," I advised the demon in my head.

My unwoven coadjutor, the remains of the demon which had 'delivered' the Infernal exaltation to me and in the process merged itself with my existence like some sort of overly talkative parasite.

Well... More a symbiote I suppose. There were perks, and it wasn't like it could control me.

~It's nice to be recognized.~

"Okay now you can shut up," I told it. It wasn't that I hated the hellborne spirit. Demons of Exalted were basically just Malfeas' version of small gods. Some were vicious, all were weird, but only a faction of their percentages were really malevolent. Most just wanted to go about their day to day like anyone else, if in a different sort of routine then a human would.

But right now I really just needed a few moments to get my head on straight without someone literally interrupting my train of thought.

~...~

Okay, I was an Infernal Exalted. That gave me...considerable power, even now in the genesis of my second breath. My body had been broken down and rebuild, stronger, tougher. My mind was just as sharp, even if my memories had taken a bit of a beating.

Those might recover as well given time. The powers of an Exalted were pretty damned flexible. An Infernal's abilities even more so.

I was a Slayer, a warrior king, one of those cast in the likeness of Malfeas, the... well leader seemed the best term for him at the moment, even if functionally he morewashell, having been mutilated and turned inside out to form a living cage by those who had defeated him when he was Theron.

...Yeah that's not exactly an uncomplicated way to describe it, but eldritch gods and all that.

Anyway I was also favored by The Ebon Dragon, which was... disquieting. For all it's moral grayness, Eddy was probably the closest thing to outright evil in the setting.

And part of what made him that was now integrated into my being, every bit as natural as my right foot.

Awesome magical powers... hell of a price tag.

Literally.

Most of my new...charms the mystical aspects of an Infernal's nature had already settled themselves into my being. Most being of Malfeas nature, but a smattering of The Ebon Dragon's alongside a single dash of She Who Lives In Her Name. Something I had desperately grasped at to try and form something I knew was theoretically possible in the game but I had been certain would be much more difficult to manage in practice.

Except... it hadn't been. The one nature had intermixed with the other and right of the bat I had a Heresy Charm in my list of abilities.

It shouldn't be that easy. Why was it that easy?

~Because there was no reason to deny it.~

I tensed.

~I'm sorry, should I have remained silent?~

Maybe they should have. How could I trust anything they-

I cut myself off, not out of fear but more out of the raw pointlessness. There was no purpose to trying to plot against someone who was literally inside your head.

"Okay what do you mean by that?"

~I don't understand all of it. Please remember I am only the mediator in all of this, but my understanding is that what you end up as doesn't really matter, so long as you're out here, beyond the Wyld and outside of creation.~

That... didn't make much sense. Wasn't the whole point of Infernals to preform the reclamation? I mean why would theywanta rogue agent?

~I don't know. Maybe it has something to do the way out here? A way to get out, or maybe they just want to extend their influence outside of Creation?~

"You're being officially helpful considering your job is basically to keep me on the team's goals," I commented.

~The only ones I've had outlaid so far are survive, and if you can conquer something in the name of you. Speculating in a way that you might find helpful doesn't hurt anything, and considering I'll be living your life by proxy until the end of my existence, remaining in your good graces seems the smart thing to do.~

"...Right," I agreed slowly. Okay I could consider that at least.

Anyway that was long term stuff.

In the short term I had to go over resources.

Loom Snarling Deception would help be blend in easily, and the wide verity of combat enhancing charms I knew would help if I ended up running into trouble, but I still didn't know where I was.

I glanced out and around. It was a wooded area, and it didn't really leave much hint at any sort of civilization or even location outside that the trees suggested snow was occasionally a thing here.

"Okay... let's pick a direction and follow it until we find something. Can you help me keep on course?" I asked my involuntary adviser.

~Sure. I am not named The Navigator of Unknown Skies for nothing.~

"...Let's hope you live up to that," I said.

Then I started trekking where I think East was.