The Mortal Burden
Book I
Chapter III
Part XV: Infinity as My Witness
Necrem materialized back onto the Earth, followed by thousands of his demons and a legion of Marsan’s warrior elite.
“Are there any more Titans on this continent?”
“No,” he answered, motioning to his legion to stand ready.
“Good. I want you to take your legion, one horde of demons, and the shock Titans. Surround every human settlement that you can, then seduce them into fighting for us,” the dark lord pressed. Marsan looked at him dubiously, angrily, and displeased about the fact that he had to take orders from a demon.
“How am I,” he pointed at himself, “supposed to seduce these mortals into fighting for me when I am going to attack and kill them all?”
“We,” Necrem paused, “cannot kill them, because we need a larger army. The Titans have caught wind of our attack, and I’m sure will be moving to intercept us soon.”
“Then how am I supposed to seduce them?”
“Offer them wealth, sex… most will jump at the chance to kill their own kind for profit,” Necrem paused, folding his gargantuan bat wings, turning around to point at a fiery-red she-demon, sparsely clothed because her skin was covered in blood-red flame.
“Just in case, I’ll send Nema with you.” Necrem looked at Nema with his ancient eyes. A glimmer of desire rose within him, then sank into the abyss of his soul just as quickly.
“She will be able to weave a dark desire within the mortals, then they’ll be under your control.”
“In which direction would you like me to go?”
“Go southeast. Scour the mountains and the mid-part of the continent; there should be many mortal settlements within,” Necrem replied to Marsan coldly.
“I’ll take the rest of the army east and take control of all the mortals I come in contact with. I’ll meet up with you by the land of lakes.”
Marsan nodded. “Shouldn’t we take the mortals’ mega-fortress on this coast first before we march east?”
“No. They’ll have greater fear when we come back and storm their eastern city. I have plans to take this megalopolis first. If we break the greatest city the humans have ever built, the rest will fall easily throughout the rest of this continent,” Necrem replied, leading his army east over the hills. Like a swarm of wingless locusts, they disappeared into the camouflage of the overcast horizon. A tinge of pain wracked his body… and for a millisecond, in the realm of quantum possibilities, he felt pain.
Written ~ 1997. © Jacob A. Pickard 2025. All rights reserved. This work is protected by copyright and may not be reproduced, republished, excerpted, or used for academic, commercial, or derivative purposes without written permission.
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