Serafall stared at the boy in front of her. His eyes were closed, meaning she did not know the colour of his eyes, but his stature and youthful face confirmed that he was the approximate age of the person she suspected him of being. The characteristic blond hair of House Sagan was present, in a fashion, but the stasis spell he was under seemed to have bleached it white.
Around 600 odd years ago, House Sagan had fallen on some very rough times. Their family suffered from the naturally high attrition rate that came from being a Prince ranked house at the time, the unrest that eventually sparked into the civil war allowing for plenty of opportunity for their enemies. Every branch of their family died out in mere decades, with the main branch being the one of the first casualties in the aforementioned civil war.
Antioch and Pandora Sagan were slain in battle, their properties and holdings seized by the victors, then changing hands multiple times through the decades of turbulence before the majority fell into the hands of Serafall's own house, House Sitri. It was why she was here, in this dusty old archive. She had been contacted by her parents to assist in removing the protections of these caches of treasure in her free time, seeing as she was powerful enough to shrug off anything that went wrong.
Considering the young boy who she was almost certain was Damocles Sagan, Antioch and Pandora's son and heir, she felt conflicted. If she released him from this stasis spell, the Old Satan Faction could use him being a surviving Scion of Sagan to push for the territories and holdings owned by her family, which would hurt them heavily financially. Such things had a way of snowballing into even bigger occurrences of "Misfortune" in the underworld, especially for those at the top.
On top of that, her beloved Sona-tan was looking at purchasing properties in the old Sagan lands for her adorable school idea and he could ruin that!
As she thought that, her hand twitched. The only thing holding her back from performing the classic: "Sorry, he was already dead when I got here, tee hee" was her duty as a Satan. This was a Heir to one of the 72 pillars. A True Born Heir to one of the houses they thought forever lost. It was her duty to the Devil race to make sure that he at least survived to produce a heir of his own, otherwise the Sagan Power of Binding would be lost to their race forever.
She sighed as she moved to release Damocles from the stasis spell. She would be a good Satan this time, but she didn't have to like it!
Being blessed with a good memory, the sensation of being able to recall the important and even the not-so-important bits of a book was nothing new to me. What was new, was that same sensation being transferred over to a decade or so years of someone else's life. Damocles, whose body I now inhabited, seemed to have had a fairly difficult life, what with the assassination attempts and the hiding out for his own safety and whatnot.
Then he got put into a Stasis spell for safekeeping, where he apparently died and had his body hijacked by some dimension hopping asshole (me).
Never having a proper childhood or friends, constantly seeing his parents worrying for their and his lives, trying to be strong for them and then dying an unceremonious death without ever knowing what happened to them.
Glad I'm not really him.
Indeed, I still have my personality and all the memories of my old life. Damocles' experiences were like a game I played, only more realistic that any RPG in my old world. Interesting and somewhat personal, but not a major deciding factor of my psychological make up. Opening my eyes, I found myself on a somewhat luxurious couch, in a rather tastefully decorated study. Sitting up, I looked to the sound of rustling paper, only to be met with the visage of Serafall FUCKING Leviathan staring back at me moodily.
I froze, feeling a sense of danger pressing in on me, as if I was a mouse being watched by an owl. She sighed, leaning back into her chair and steepling her fingers. I decided to sit up properly and face her, my hands on my knees and back straight, hoping that giving her respect would earn me some brownie points.
She seemed to look off into the distance briefly before finally speaking, "Welcome back to world of the conscious, Scion Sagan."
I considered that wording. In the underworld, Heirs are people who stand to inherit their House, Lords are those who have already inherited and Scions... Scions are those who are the last of their Houses but have yet to inherit any holdings.
Leaning on my acting skills to fake emotions I didn't truly feel, I swallowed thickly. Thinking back one of my sad childhood memories (The time my first cat died), I summoned tears to my eyes and asked shakily, "My parents... are dead?"
She seemed to soften at that, seeing what she expected to see from a small boy at that piece of news, before saying, "Yes, you are the last of House Sagan. You have been asleep for a very, very long time. Let me explain..."
What followed was a broad description of the Devil Civil War to oust the Old Satans, as well as the current status quo of the New Satans and the Great King, ensuring that I understood that there were no longer any Princes among Devil kind. She then explained to me how my families properties were taken during the war, a war in which they were on the losing side, as well as how her family owned most of it.
"So you see, Damocles, you've put us in a difficult spot. If you pressed your claim over the Sagan lands, you could cause a lot of trouble for the Satans, my family and most importantly, my adorable sister." Good to know that was still a thing. Serafall continued, "However, I have spoken to my parents and we have come up with a solution that does not involve... unpleasant outcomes."
So she's willing to kill me if I kick up too much of a fuss, noted.
"If you swear to me to not push your claim over those holdings, we will bequeath to you the old Sagan Manor, as well as the surrounding lands without a legal battle. Additionally, the Satans will grant House Sagan the new rank of Baron, which will allow you to start building up your family again much easier. I am sorry that you need to accept this responsibility so young, but I'm afraid we can't trust any of the other Houses to adopt you and not use you to lay claim to my family's lands."
That they took from mine, I thought in my head. Still, considering her offer, I could see the merit in it. It would be a hell of a sight better than starting from nothing and was actually rather generous of them, likely because they thought of me as a child who they could easily lead by the nose and trick into feeling grateful. I notice she didn't say what would happen to me if I didn't take the deal, but I could make an educated guess.
Deciding to play into her preconceptions, I screwed up my face into a childish serious look and spoke, "Fine, if it will get me my home back, I will give you the most sacred oath my Mother taught me, one I can never break no matter what."
She raised an eyebrow, "Oh?"
I extended a hand to her, fingers and thumb curled up, leaving the littlest one extended, "I pinkie swear!"
Her laugh was irritatingly cute.
I had expected the classic devils bargain from Serafall, the old sticking to the letter of an agreement and not the spirit thing, but surprisingly enough a lot of my families belongings had been moved back to the Manor, or at least not taken out before I got there. I am sure that lot off the more valuable pieces and books had been yoinked, but what remained had exceeded my expectations. Of course, the whole thing was covered in monitoring and surveillance spells.
Additionally, Serafall had provided me with a maid (Read: spy) to prepare meals and help with the shopping. The vault in the Manor even had enough in it to allow me to live comfortably for a while, so long as I spent sensibly. I kept expecting the other shoe to drop, but after a week of nothing I had mostly accepted that this was indeed on the up and up.
In all likelihood, this was another attempt to make me feel indebted to them, as well as not leave an obvious opening for the Old Satan fuckers to exploit. I haven't even received any visitors. According to Cleria, the "Maid", my survival is to be announced to the public at a function that will take place on my 13th birthday, in six months. Supposedly the tradition has become to do this for Heirs and Scions on their 10th birthday, but obviously that opportunity has passed for me.
I asked Cleria who would be paying for this function, to which she replied that it was being organised and funded by Serafall. Yet another "gift". I had also been informed that during this week I had a meeting with Ajuka Beezelbub to receive my evil pieces. From research on a phone (provided by Cleria and obviously being monitored) connected to the Devil-net, I could figure out the reasons that I was getting my pieces so soon.
All the major players of the Old Satan faction did not have peerages. Due to their belief that Reincarnated Devils were inferior to True Born Devils and the Evil Pieces being the tools used to create them, they refused to use such tools out of principle. Oh they still had retinues and servants, they just weren't brought into the fold via the Pieces.
So, this was yet another thing being used to put me into the New Satan camp. Several of my plans relied on the Pieces, however, so I was not too cut up about it. I could even admire how the New Satans were manipulating everything for their benefit, while appearing to be benign and helpful.
If it came down to it, I would even pick the New Satans over the Old Satan faction, simply because the leaders of the latter were bat-shit insane. For now, however, it would benefit me more to remain as neutral as possible and accept entreaties from both sides. That way, I could manipulate them against each other to gain the most benefit.
First, however, I needed to reduce the New Satans hold on me. That meant getting rid of Cleria, getting my own phone, and removing the monitoring spells in the Manor that I detected via Information Defence. To that end, I had spent the last week studying intently as well as meditating. Damocles had been taught magic at a fairly high level due to the conflict he was raised in, but I still needed to figure out and relearn the spells for myself.
Currently I had focused on learning Hypnotism, basic Telekinesis and the Sagan Family unique power, the Power of Binding. The Power of Binding was similar to Worthless, in a way, as it allowed me to 'Lock' a concept, blocking the ability to access said concept. For example, against a magic user I could 'Lock' fire, which would cause him to then be unable to use said flames. There were several downsides, however.
The more familiar someone was with the concept or thing I was attempting to Lock the harder it was to break their connection to it. For example, trying to prevent the Pheonix clan from accessing their rejuvenation would be incredibly difficult. More than that, they would be able to combat the Lock to access the ability anyway by expending will and power. This could very quickly result in a battle of attrition between me and them, and unfortunately, Damocles was not exceptionally powerful, meaning that there was a good chance I would lose that fight.
Against people or things without Magic however, this could very quickly become oppressive. I had asked Cleria to obtain some electronics for me, giving the excuse that I was curious about all these new devices that had been created while I was away. I used these devices, such as flash-lights and remotes, to hone my ability to Lock the conduction of electricity in mechanical devices. It was still a work in progress, but I could tell I was getting closer.
As for the meditation, I could fall into a trance where I could feel the different worlds available to me. The canon time lines were immediately clear to me, and could be accessed almost instantly. I could feel myself slipping into them, almost travelling to one before I stopped myself. Catharsis had made the Planeswalking easy and user friendly, but had perhaps made it a bit too easy.
Something I discovered was that I could find alternate versions of the worlds to go to. It was a lot harder to focus on them however and the more things changes from the Prime, canon timeline the fuzzier they got. It appeared if I wanted to go to a alternate timeline it would take a lot more meditating to find the one I wanted.
Still progress was progress.
I looked down at the flash-light in my hand, lamenting my lack of progress here. I shrugged, then spoke, "Lock." I could feel my family power respond, falling over the device in my hand. I flicked the switch, only to be greeted once again by an artificial glow, "Fuck." I sighed.
Serafall placed down Ceria's latest report on Damocles on the table in front of her, having been explaining the pertinent parts to her fellow Satans in the current meeting. Sirzechs seemed politely interested, Ajuka seemed to be puzzling something out on his own and Falbium didn't seem to be interested at all.
She decided to just get to the point, "He obviously distrusts us. The revival of a Pillar House is a big deal, this could come back to bite us if we are not careful. We have his agreement to not press his claims, but it could be argued he signed it under duress."
Sirzechs laughed, "He distrusts the people spying on him and very obviously manipulating him? What a surprise."
Serafall's cheeks coloured before Ajuka cut in, "Serafall, in your first meeting, how quickly did he get over the death of his parents?"
She blinked, nonplussed by the non sequitur, before thinking back to the meeting, "He... seemed to get over it quickly? I tried to distract him from it with what he missed and that seemed to work well."
Ajuka nodded, "It didn't. He got over it because he didn't care in the first place."
Serafall didn't believe it, "He cried when he figured it out, Ajuka."
He tapped the file in front of him, "Yes he did, but once that meeting was over, he hasn't spent any time at all mourning. He didn't grieve, Cleria has not caught him crying or even looking sad. He has been meditating, but that would not completely erase those feelings."
"So?" Serafall questioned. "Is he traumatised in some way, or broken emotionally? I don't get what you are leading to."
"I think," Ajuka posited, "That the young Damocles might be a psychopath. He displayed the emotions you expected him to at the time, but hasn't continued to display them as he should because he doesn't understand them. He can act well, but he doesn't function like a normal 12 year old."
Sirzechs seemed to just accept that, trusting his old friend's intuition, "So how do we handle him? He would obviously not be the only psychopathic devil, but his situation is pretty delicate."
Ajuka ran a hand through his green hair, "Him being like this can actually help us, as he operates more on logic than emotion. It means we negotiate with him a lot easier than we could a normal child. Listen..."
Serafall listened to Ajuka explain how to deal with a child psychopath, feeling bitter. That little shit had managed to trick her, straight to her face. She is the Satan in charge of diplomacy! She should be better than this!
She gained a wicked smile however, thinking of a way to pay him back. After all, she was ever so worried about him, a poor child living all alone in such a big house! Maybe she should drag him out to go have a bit of fun with people his own age.
AN: Here is the second chapter, setting up several things that will be important later. If you are worried about the story being slow, Damocles is going after the first target next chapter.
If you have any complaints about the pacing, please try and frame them respectfully. I am a new writer, so I will make mistakes, but remember I have an entire plot outline for this story.
I would be happy to discuss why things are happening in the specific way they are, but please try and be civil.