Nephthys smiled as she observed the starfield, stretching for miles around her. It was malleable, and she had formed it over the exterior of Nemesis and its surroundings, excluding the interior. She did not actually know whether it would be possible to penetrate Nemesis with her field, as there were potent barriers on top of the crashstone, already mana-resistant itself.
She felt…good. Really good. The power running through her body was euphoric, dangerously so. She had never done any drugs, but she imagined this must be what being high was like. The power poured from the void in her chest, suffusing her with the strength to do nearly anything she could imagine, if only she could figure out the spellcraft.
She did not need spells to be who she was, however. Her Celestial abilities were ingrained into her being. The instant she brought the night sky down, knowledge of who she was, what she could do, filled her mind. Her birthright lay before her, waiting to be claimed.
She lowered her arms, holding her right hand in front of her. One of the stars shot down and hovered in her hand. It was so small, so delicate, yet it held unbelievable potential. Her smile grew as she examined it, sparkling like the most beautiful of gemstones, yet ethereal and fleeting.
Power gathered around her, some strange resonance between herself and the star in her palm. Mana gathered, circling. It was so dense, so potent, that cracks of purple lightning sprang up around her body.
"Mistress, if I may?" Ramose suddenly asked.
Nephthys's smile fell. She had forgotten he was here. She turned around, regarding him with an expression that could freeze the magma beneath them. He was bowed a full ninety degrees, carefully avoiding looking at her. That was wise. Who did he think he was to interrupt? With the power in her hand, she could obliterate—
"Forgive my impertinence, but I would suggest holding off on further experimentation. I do not know what spell you mean to unleash, but I can guess its destructive potential from the potent mana you wield.
"As you mentioned, we have been isolated for two centuries. I would advise against large-scale damage to our immediate surroundings until we know more about the situation.
"We also have scouts out. Some have returned, but some have not. I would be remiss to not mention them, as the devastation you could unleash would undoubtedly endanger them should they be anywhere near us right now," he explained, never raising his head.
Nephthys's visage melted from a temperature that could freeze Hell over back to her natural, impassive neutral. The star in her hand rocketed back into the surrounding void, and the darkness retreated into the sky, carrying the moon's cold void and the starfield's surreal majesty with it. The sky returned to its overcast red, and Nephthys ceased circulating her mana.
"Apologies, Ramose. I got carried away, nearly forgot myself. I would not intentionally harm a member of Nemesis," she said, turning away from him.
"No need to apologize, my lady. I am unworthy. It is my job to make such recommendations. Thank you for your consideration," Ramose responded, straightening from his bow to clasp his hands behind his back.
Nephthys crossed her arms to hide her shaking hands. Why had she gotten so carried away? Why had she had those thoughts? That was not her. She had never had a desire to unleash destruction of any kind. She was afraid to light the campfire on her grade school field trip, for crying out loud!
She thought back to her drug comparison and thought it apt. She would have to be careful calling on the Celestial powers. They were not to be used lightly. And when she did use them, could she remain herself?
"You found me because you had something to say, yes? What is it?" she asked, working hard to keep her voice steady, though it was noticeably easier than it had been in her human body.
"Indeed. I have gathered the Nemesis members in the hall below. I thought you might address them. It has been two hundred years, after all," he said.
Great. Not only was she shaken by a sudden identity crisis, but she also had to give a speech? What was this guy's game? Was he trying to undermine her? Make her seem incompetent so he could eventually take her position?
"Very well. Lead the way," she said, backed into a corner since he had already—apparently—summoned everyone.
Technically, she had asked Ramose not to interrupt her until morning, and it was now morning. Perhaps he interpreted that to mean she would be ready to play guild master by morning. Was that being too charitable? He probably just wanted to make her look bad.
What was she even supposed to do? Did she thank everyone for essentially being prisoners for two hundred years? Was she supposed to have some grand plan for the guild, like creating a nation and taking over territory or something? She did not want to be a ruler, and she would be betraying her people by becoming one.
Her ancestors did not spend centuries of toil and strife overthrowing monarchies just for her to travel to another world and start one herself.
Ramose led the way through the wide halls, the path winding down the pyramid in four sections. There was a magic lift in the center, but he seemed keen on walking, perhaps for the drama? It would be pretty hard to arrive dramatically in an elevator.
Reaching the middle floor, Ramose turned and made for a colossal, decorated door that dominated this floor. It was made of a rich mahogany, with latches gilded in gold. This door was clearly meant to impress, as wood of any kind was vanishingly rare in the Crater, arguably more valuable than the gold.
Standing to either side of the ostentatious doors were Setekh and Alcander, two hellknights that she had summoned to fulfill the roles of Lieutenants in Nemesis's small military structure. She was only vaguely aware of military hierarchy, so she had summoned only seven NPCs.
There was Hannibal, the general and leader of the tiny military. Beneath him were two Captains: Horemheb and Leonidas. Beneath them were two Lieutenants each: Setekh, Alcander, Thaleia, and Menelaus. That was the entirety of Nemesis's organized military, though not the extent of their defenders.
There were many golems employed by Nemesis, serving both utilitarian and defensive roles. Each military member could also summon a large number of grunt soldiers as needed. This was the specific reason she had summoned demons for the military in the first place.
As the enormous doors glided open soundlessly, their gilded hinges offering no sound of complaint, Nephthys examined her Lieutenants. Hellknights were always edgy and cool in Prelude, but they were downright intimidating in reality.
They stood well over six feet tall, with thick plate armor, black save for the engravings of crisscrossing blue lines covering every surface of the exotic metal. Though fully covered by the armor, bits of exposed flesh burst from joints and segments, the gray flesh bulging, as if barely contained by the armor shell.
The flesh was jarring compared to human flesh, not just for its gray color. It seemed to have thick muscles beneath, yet they were wrong. They seemed bundles of cables wrapped this way and that nonsensically, certainly not uniform, the way human musculature is.
Further evidence of their alien nature was the smoke that rose steadily from their bodies at all times. It was not much; even a campfire would have created more, but it was enough to be noticeable and unsettling. The scent of brimstone and sulfur surrounded them strongly enough to gag, if one weren't prepared for it.
Though they looked identical, Nephthys somehow had no trouble identifying Setekh on the left and Alcander on the right. Perhaps it was because they were her summons? She had a feeling she would not be able to tell one hellknight from the next otherwise.
When the doors swung fully open, they both dropped to one knee, bowing their heads. Nephthys nodded at them as she passed, unsure what etiquette she was supposed to be following. She resisted the urge to inhale sharply as she beheld all of Nemesis arrayed before her.
All members, minus the two Lieutenants kneeling outside the doors, Akhenaton, who had disappeared, and Ramose, who followed behind her, were present, lining the aisle of the audience hall. Seven members were on each side. Nephthys recognized all of them, of course, being their summoner, but seeing them in person was a strange combination of awe-inspiring, heart-warming, and terrifying.
The hall itself was a marvel, constantly trying to draw her attention away from the gathered members. It was grand in both size and presentation. At least a hundred feet long, the path she walked was lined with a plush blue carpet that absorbed her footfalls, making her approach silent.
Wait, no…she was silent because she was floating. She had not consciously decided to float, yet her feet were crossed, toes pointed down toward the ground just inches beneath. It was as though this body longed to leave the ground, and she would have to consciously decide to walk rather than levitate. That would take some getting used to.
As she passed, each member bowed, then fell in line and followed behind her. The luxurious carpet they walked upon was edged in gold, contrasting sharply with the polished black stone floor. Thick columns of the same stone, hewn into twisting cords that intertwined and crawled from floor to ceiling, lined the path, less polished but no less grandiose in their carvings. Snake heads reared and hissed at both the tops and bottoms.
The end of the hall opened into a titanic bowl carved from the crashstone of this mountain. Lava ran in colossal flows, falling from magma tubes around the edge of the bowl and filling a gargantuan pool of lava at the bottom of the bowl—or was it magma since it was still technically underground?
The glow from the magma filled the hall with an eerie light, contrasting with the cold blue light from crystal chandeliers near the entryway. They hung less than halfway up the room's height, yet the light they cast battled the glow of the magma, fighting it on equal footing and creating a zone of purple at the center where the light met.
In the exact center of the magma pool, jutting out by several hundred feet, was the meteor itself. The very thing that had delivered apocalypse to Praxia, the red space crystal, was shaped like some sort of divine spear. Though appearing hundreds of feet tall here, it actually extended so far down that it pierced the planet's mantle itself, according to game lore.
It loomed over the hall, further darkening the magma's glow to a crimson red, resembling blood, as light refracted through it. The crystal lent an ominous, otherworldly presence to the audience hall, as if a memento mori not meant for individuals, but the world itself.
Everything ends.
Just at the edge of the bowl, where the hall ended, stood the throne. A hulking fixture crafted from the same red crystal as the meteor, the throne's back was seven feet tall and domineering.
The armrests stood at a reasonable distance from the ground but were carved into the heads of snakes, the left resembling a constrictor, the right a viper. Though she had chosen such decorations for their associations with the goddess Nemesis from her home world, they delivered the desired intimidation without any background knowledge.
Nemesis promised that vengeance was always in striking range.
Nephthys reached the dais and floated up the steps to the throne. She turned around to face her guild; all members gathered. The members, all lined in a row before the throne, dropped to a single knee and bowed their heads in sync, as though this pageantry were rehearsed.
Nephthys sat on the throne as gracefully as she could, not an easy task considering she had to sit from a levitation position. She gazed out over her guild, supplicating to her, and only a single thought ran through her mind.
What the fuck do I do now?
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