The Red God of Radasanth

[Savas Tigh]

Days ticked by before Savas was up for a journal entry. He was not happy with what he wrote, but journal entries are seldom the stuff of pleasure.

I made the deal.

I made a deal. I don't remember what it was. If there was fine print, I don't think I was in a position to read it. I remember teeth and eyes and screaming.

For once, that's good enough for me.

Blightcrow has explained to me that this has all been the work of a demon lord whose Name I dare not speak, even to write. A big one that could punt around any of the others I've called up over the years. It likes to be known as the Red God. Blightcrow is passingly familiar with it, claims he wrestled some of its lieutenants on the other side. I don't know if I believe that but I do know he pulled an imp out of my head and held it in place for the six hours I was unconscious, the three I needed to finish recovering, and the hour I needed to get everything ready for a dissection. Except that it was a vivisection and I relished in it, oh yes...

I worry now though. I made a deal but I don't remember it; I don't even know how to break it and I'm not sure if I want to risk becoming a Warlock. Whatever it is, I still have my Name. I am still Wormaxe.

The city has changed again. I haven't bothered to investigate too much, but I saw an innkeeper sweeping his porch a few hours ago who reminded me -- worryingly -- of Decimus Golgol. I sat in his inn's dining room, had a full meal, and listened to him tell a bevy of orphans a story about ghosts and heroes and whatever else. I wasn't paying much attention. The bits I did listen closely to, they reminded me of the other night.

I get the feeling the consequences of this whole misadventure will be plaguing me for a long, long while.

When he was done, Savas closed the book and stared at the wall in front of him.

At last he admitted, "I'm not you, Blueraven. I'm getting in over my head."

[Savas Tigh]

Wormaxe closed the book with a defeated sigh. He spent the rest of the week in a self-destructive haze, too weak in spirit to even murder anyone and too distracted to notice when a little boy with black pits for eyes bumped into him one day -- at least, too distracted to notice until well after the fact. Even when he did realize it, Savas didn't much care.

What's one more for the pit? he later wrote without giving any context to it.

The city had changed alright. It was back to whatever the consensus deemed correct, which might've been a less awful state of siege or outright normalcy; he couldn't be bothered to pay enough attention to care. Savas wandered the City of Heroes as a two-bit death-eating hedgemage who'd been conned into a deal with something awful by a lowly imp. The whole experience was, on the whole, a humiliating reminder that he had a long way to go before he surpassed his mentor. If he ever could. Blueraven had been a Sorcerer after all, and that was an avenue of power blocked to him, because Savas hadn't sold himself to the Thaynes when he had the chance. And he had done far too much for them to trust him with that kind of power the way they trusted Caden. If they trusted anyone or anything at all.

Eventually, after far too much moping, the Wizard went back down to his study. There, the skull of Blightcrow waited for him. It rested on a satin pillow on one of the book shelves, the only reward Savas could think to give after everything that had happened. He didn't even have the heart to double up on the binding spells that should have made his miraculous exorcism impossible.

You look like hammered shit, the skull greeted him.

"Feel like it too," Savas said as he sat down at his work bench. "I don't know what I'm doing anymore. I couldn't even stop a little imp."

What are you trying to do then?

Savas considered it.

"Save the world," he admitted for the first time. It surprised even him, the words that came out of his mouth in that moment.

Yes, yes. That's all well and good. But why? Blightcrow asked.

For this, Savas had no easy answer.

He remembered his father knocking his teeth out. He remembered darkness. He remembered strangling Blueraven to death with his bare hands.

And he remembered the words, On my terms.

That's what this was about, after all. That's what this had always been about. More than the rest, Savas remembered bitterly kneeling before a black-robed archivist with a huge book. He remembered screaming his battlecry as he got his hands around Blueraven's throat. And he remembered looking up into the abyss and spitting into it. He remembered his choices. And through his choices, Savas Tigh remembered his goals.

He found Why as easily as he found What.

"Because I'm going to rule it," the Wizard Wormaxe Said, his Voice ringing out within the stone confines of his demesne.

He had the impression that Blightcrow would have grinned, if the Dead Wizard still had lips.

It's one thing to know it in your head. It's another to make that connection in the pit where your heart should be. Now...tell me this, Wizard. Savas looked to the skull. What do you want right now?

"I want to learn," Savas said, and meant it.

Good. Now open your grimoire to the Laws of Wizardry. I'm going to tell you the ones that Blueraven wouldn't.

[Savas Tigh]

A Wizard must wield life and death like a craftsman wields hammer and nail.
A Wizard must rule.
Addendum: A Wizard must be ruled by reason and ambition.
Addendum: A Wizard is never truly ruled by a power greater than himself -- such a power does not exist.
A Wizard is only as good as his Word.
Addendum: Vendetta sworn is vendetta pursued at all costs.
Addendum: Deception is to a Wizard as breathing is to a man.
A Wizard never stops thinking.
A Wizard can never go home.
Addendum: Because he most always strive for more than his beginnings.

Savas stared at the new Laws.

He nodded to himself and said, "It's a start."

***

A red moon rose over Radasanth.

If anyone had looked up, they would have seen the Wizard running rooftop to rooftop under its glare.

***
End

[Revenant]

Condensed Rubric requested.

Plot: 24 – While this story really built up the action and mystique surrounding the Red God, the actual reveal was somewhat rushed.

Character: 25 – You seem to have quite the solid grasp on who Savas is and how he acts in given situations. A serious character with enough levity to make him feel like a well-rounded person.

Prose: 24 – A good, solid read.

Wildcard: 5

TOTAL: 78

Savas Tigh gains 2915 exp and 360 gp.

[Silence Sei]

Exp/GP added