Chapter Text
He floated.
Xornoth had floated through that all too familiar black void, unable to tell if he had been there for one minute or one thousand years. It was honestly the most at peace he had ever been in his life. No deafening screams, no god taunting him, no emperors after his head. Just silence. And memories.
Oh, the memories.
They replayed in his head, showcasing little familiar moments over and over. He thanked the gods above for giving him the good ones for now.
Giggling with his little brother while they ducked under opposing hills of snow, rapidly preparing packed spheres of the cold as a raging snowball fight ensued.
Appearing in front of The Lost Emperor, smiling in amusement as Joey gazed at him in silent admiration and awe.
The King of Mythland grinning in child-like determination as he wielding his new
weapons.
The Queen of The Undergrove, cowering in fear as he towered over her, a wolf lying limp at her side.
The Codfather, running for his life through the forest as he chased him, laughing maniacally.
His little brother standing before him, glowing sword in hand, pointing it toward his own chest.
The pain. The pain that seared through his chest. The feeling of loosing his grip of reality. The feeling of being yanked out of his own body, and thrown into darkness-
He woke up.
The first thing Xornoth noticed was the noise. It was fairly quiet, besides the occasional bird, distant ribbit or rustling leaves.
The second thing Xornoth noticed was the lack of noise. The constant static that blocked out his own thoughts and the taunting voice of a god were completely gone. It was just him. His own thoughts. None of which instinctually contained violence.
Huh.
Slowly, he opened his eyes, revealing a yellowish green canopy above him. Their trunks were a dark dusty brown, with long spindly roots that weaved through the mud effortlessly. Where was he?? There were no lands that he knew like this. Something was wrong. He didn’t know these trees. The constant awful buzz of Exor was-
He shot up, eyes immediately directed to his hands.
Still the same black twisted claws he had had for the last eighteen years.
He reached up to his head, his head meeting the same massive horns he had known for the same amount of time. Same jagged teeth, same glowing pupil-less eyes, same snake-like tail.
He was still corrupted.
He didn’t feel corrupted. He felt like his mind was truly his own for the first time in almost two decades. He felt free of the god, though his body said otherwise. He was still under its command, even if it wasn’t currently present.
He sighed, finally looking up to examine his surroundings. The unfamiliar trees were packed tightly together, their roots twisting around, until they didn’t. He was sitting directly in the middle of a dry clearing, surrounded by… Crying Obsidian? A thin trail of small chunks of Crying Obsidian spiraled around him, along with spots of glowstone and what looked like weeping vines. What-?
There was a gasp.
Xornoths head snapped up in the direction of the sudden sound, just in time to see purple and green figure dart behind one of the trees. He gasped too, slight panic building up in his mind.
“Who’s there?!” He yelled, flinching at the volume of his own voice. Did he always sound like this to the other emperors?
“NOBODY! DEFINITELY NO WITCHES, NOPE!” A quivering voice replied, clearly coming from whoever was hiding.
The demon pressed one hand to the ground, propping himself up to stand in the middle of the magic circle, before letting out a small bark of laughter. He winced. Did his laughter always sound so cruel? Before a reply could come, a small purple blob jumped out from behind the tree. A frog.
“Tortoise, no!” The same voice yelped, before tumbling after the large frog.
She was fairly short compared to him -which was expected, given that Xornoth was 10’3”, not including horns-, messy black hair fluffing out behind her. She sported a puffy purple long-sleeved shirt and dusty green overalls, as well as thick mud-covered rain boots. A-top her head sat a massive matching green witch hat, decorated with small coral-pink flowers. She reached down, scooping up the grumpy frog, before looking up at Xornoth, with terrified yellow eyes. She was scared of him. Why did he feel guilt?
“Uh… Hello?” He tried, slightly shrinking back away from the witch.
“… H-hi…?” She nervously replied, clutching the frog closer to her chest. She slowly took a step back, glancing around as if she was searching for something.
“Where-… Where am I?” Xornoth cautiously asked. The witch only backed up more, her fearful expression turning slightly confused.
“The Evermoore? O-or The Mangrove, some call it.”
“… And how did I get here?”
The witches eyes widened. “OH! Oh my gosh, I am so sorry about that! I was trying to summon a spirit and I may have messed up a little bit and I didn’t know what I was doing and gosh, I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to summon a demon! I just wanted to summon spirits and I told Sausage I wouldn’t mess with any demons oh Sausage is GOING TO KILL ME!” She rambled, panic rising in her already unsteady voice.
Xornoth froze. Sausage? Sausage was here? He survived The Rapture?? He was human! Xornoth expected him to die first, honestly. But then again he was one of the most determined and resilient people that he had ever met.
“…Sausage? Mythical J. Sausage?” Xornoth wearily questioned.
Now it was the witches turn to freeze.
“Yes! You know him??” She asked frantically, the frog in her arms finally managing to leap away from her.
“That’s a word for it.” He sighed.
To his surprise, the witch started to visibly relax. She even smiled at him, which just surprised him more. Sausage and Joey were the only ones who had ever smiled at him.
“Oh that’s great! I’m Shelby, by the way. The Great Witch, Shelby! Pleasure to meet you…?”She cheerfully puffed her chest out, her entire mood switching from terrified to confident. She paused, looking at him expectantly.
“Hm? Oh! Xornoth.” He introduced simply, leaving out his various awful titles.
“Pleasure to meet you, Xornoth!” She grinned, before abruptly turning and walking into the fog. “Come on! We can talk at my house!” She called, her voice progressively getting more distant.
Xornoth leapt after her, flinching as his talon-like feet landed in the mud. He trudged after her, having to bend down so that his horns would get caught in the mangrove trees branches. It only took him a few strides to catch up.
“So….” His voice trailed, laced with awkwardness. “How’s Sausage doing?” He didn’t know why he felt slightly concerned about the king. He had always treated him like an expendable pawn, but now that the static of Exor has gone quiet, he felt like a friend. A friend who’s life he ruined.
“Oh, he’s doing great! Sanctuary is expanding quite quickly, actually.”
“Sanctuary?” He asked, completely confused.
“Yeah! You know, his city? Your friends with him, right? You should know that.” She responded cheerfully, turning around to face him and continuing to walk backwards.
“No, his kingdom is Mythland.” He protested.
“No…? I’ve never heard of that before. But I assure you, his land is called Sanctuary, the jungle city.”
Xornoth now felt frustrated.
“No, his kingdom is in the dark oak forest! How have you never heard of Mythland?! It’s one of the biggest empires!” He didn’t realize he had started yelling.
“I-I don’t know! I… I just-“ Shelby stopped walking, genuine fear returning to her. She was visibly shaking now.
Xornoth immediately panicked, seeing how panicked she was. “No no no! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to yell-“ He tried to calm her, his tone and words instinctively mimicking what he would do to calm down his little brother when they were little kids.
He paused. Why was he acting like this? Why did he feel sorry? Why did he care so much?
“This is weird.” He said, more to himself then the scared witch.
She laughed nervously in return, her cheerful atmosphere returning slightly. “Agreed.” Without another word, she turned and started walking again, faster.
Xornoth followed, guilt consuming him. No words were spoken, awkward tension building with each passing moment.
Why was he like this?! Why was he concerned about how she felt? Exor might have been quiet now, but he had no doubt that it would return to demand something of him at any moment. It all felt wrong, feeling emotions other than cruel amusement and sadistic joy. This was just a random witch in the middle of the woods! Nobody to really care about. Nobody was really someone to care about. He reminded himself. All that matters is that you listen.
It felt like an eternity when they finally popped into another open clearing, dotted with various buildings, complete with a large lake in the center. Shelby immediately headed toward the largest settlement, that being a rustic tower-like house, a massive magenta terracotta and stone witch hat making up its roof.
She pushed her way through the front door, not even looking to see if he was still following. He was met with a cozy room, vines and azaleas lining the trinket-covered walls, and a moss carpet in the center. A small redwood table sat on the carpet, two wood and quartz chairs already pulled up. Shelby took one chair, gesturing for him to sit on the other one. He obeyed without question, and waited for her to speak.
“Sooo…. Um… How’s your day been?” She questioned nervously.
“Well I’m not floating in the void of death re-living both my best and worst memories, so that’s lovely.” He shrugged.
“Wait, what? You were dead??” She gasped, wide-eyed.
“Yes…? I think so. According to how I died, I’m pretty sure I was dead.” He smiled slightly smugly, sarcasm lacing his tone.
“How did you die??” Shelby was nearly jumping in her seat at this point.
Xornoth thought. He remembered it all too well. Watching as his brother stabbed himself through the chest with that awful sword, feeling the celestial pain, and loosing his grip of reality.
“Brother who I’m magically bound to stabbed himself.” He shrugged again, replying in the most monotone voice he could manage, which made it sound like the statement was normal. It was not.
Shelby’s eyes somehow got wider. “EXCUSE ME.”
“I-“
“WE ARE FINDING SAUSAGE, RIGHT NOW.” She jumped from her chair and burst out the door, still not even looking back to see if he was following her. He followed as fast as he could, once again catching up fairly quickly. The witch broke into a run, diving back into the maze of the mangroves.
The two now ran in silence, the only sound being their footsteps and the occasional startled frog. They continued for hours, only stopping for a break every once in a while, conversation never making an appearance.
Finally, they broke out of the forest, landing on a tiny beach that opened out into the ocean. Xornoths stomach twisted.
“Okay now magic time…” The witch mumbled to herself, reaching into her pocket and retrieving something small. She threw it into the water, mumbling something else. As soon as it hit the ocean, it burst into a ball of light, dancing and twirling until it took the form of a oak boat, just big enough for two people. She jumped into the boat without hesitation, although the same couldn’t be said for the demon.
“Wait… we’re going across water…?” He questioned, his voice filled with despair.
“Yes? Was that not clear?” She turned to him, still waiting.
“I’m not much of a… Water person.” He replied. He was not going to tell her that he both couldn’t swim and was very afraid of water.
“It’s a boat, you’ll be fine! You can just keep your eyes closed, if that helps!” She grinned, clearly starting to get a bit impatient.
He sighed uncertainty, before carefully stepping into the boat, which creaked slightly in retaliation. He shivered, sitting down and closing his eyes tight, knees to his chest, tail wrapped around his ankles in a desperate attempt at comfort. Within seconds, they were already a few feet from shore. He shivered again, a faint giggle coming from Shelby this time.
“What??” He questioned, keeping his eyes firmly closed.
“It’s just- you are the most terrifying demonic demon-y demon that I have ever met, and you’re scared of water like a cat!” She exclaimed light-heartedly.
“I am not scared!!” He protested.
“Mhm. Look at the water, then.” She challenged.
He grumbled an incoherent ‘no’, his grip on himself growing tighter as the boat swayed slightly. Shelby laughed again.
“So this ‘Sanctuary’ place is an island?” He mumbled, trying to distract himself.
“Nah.”
“Wait- then why are we crossing water??”
“Because to get there by foot we’d have to go through the Eversea, and I am not doing that today.”
“…Why?”
“Cuz I’d rather not fight a pirate who’s out for my blood right now.”
“Why?”
“Cuz he’s annoying as heck and won’t shut up even though he knows that Kathrine isn’t interested in him!” She nearly shouted, obviously getting defensive.
Xornoth fell silent to that. Kathrine? Like the Queen of the Overgrown? Probably not. Kathrine was a common name, wasn’t it? Whoever it was, Shelby clearly cared a lot about her. Her tone even reminded him of how Scott got defensive when he talked about Ji-… Ohhhhhhhh…..
“You like her?” He asked suddenly. Now it was her turn to go quiet.
“…..Maybe.”
Xornoth let out a small “Ha” of amusement, his tail tip flicking. “You sound like my brother.” He let out another brief laugh, this one tainted with sadness.
“What was your brother like?”
“He… He was a stubborn stuck-up thorn if you asked me. But he cared. About his friends. About me, at least when we were little. He cared about his own little crush, no matter how much he denied it.”
“Sounds like a few people I know.” The witch responded kindly, before her tone suddenly got sadder to match his own.
“So… If you’re comfortable with answering… Why did he… Ya know, give himself to The End?”
Xornoth didn’t respond for a long moment.
“To kill me.”
Silence.
“Wh-“ She was cut off by the boat hitting something, startling them both; Xornoth actually yelping in surprise.
“We just hit an island, it’s okay!” She quickly assured him. He felt the boat sway again, weight disappearing him the opposing end. “Come on! Let’s sleep here for the night.” She called.
Slowly, he opened his eyes, revealing a small sandy island of which sported a small cluster of trees. Carefully, he stepped out of the boat, nearly collapsing onto land in pure relief. He sighed, quickly sitting cross-legged in the sand.
“I am never doing that again.”
“You’re gonna have to tomorrow, unless you wanna swim.” Shelby replied, grinning as she lit a small campfire that she somehow whipped up in seconds. “Anyways! I only have one sleeping bag, and it probably wouldn’t fit you if I gave it to you, so are you okay with sleeping on leaves?”
“Oh… I don’t sleep, actually.”
“Hm. Demon thing?”
“Demon thing.”
The witch turned away from the fire, pulling out a small rolled up sleeping bag from her bag and tossing it out. “Just- Don’t watch me sleep, okay?” Xornoth nodded. With that, she got into the bag and closed her eyes.
The demon obeyed her wishes, slowly adjusting his position so that he faced the extensive ocean. Questions clawed at his mind, filling his thoughts with nothing but frantic messages.
Why hadn’t Shelby ever heard of Mythland? He wouldn’t be surprised if they were somewhere off-map, but she still would’ve heard of it, right? Why did Sausage not rule Mythland anymore? Did he move on after The Rapture? How had he not died from the destruction? Why was Exor not talking to him?Why did he actually feel sympathy for the first time in eighteen years? Why didn’t he attack Shelby? Or torment her? Or manipulate her? Why, why, why?
Before he knew it, the sun was rising.
He still didn’t move, though he was finally able to quiet his rather loud thoughts, focusing on Shelby as she woke up. The witch simply stretched, before abruptly jumping up to put away all her supplies. “Time to go, Xorxor!” She cheered.
“DON’T-“ He paused, pinching the space between his eyes and sighing. “Please don’t call me that.” Joey was the only one who called him that.
“Oh… Alright?” She continued to stomp out the last of the smoldering flames of the campfire. When she was done, she immediately headed for the boat, much to Xornoths disappointment.
He grumbled, stepping in and sitting across from her once again. Xornoth reverted to the same position he was in the day before with his eyes closed. Soon, they were back in the middle of the ocean, awkward silence ensuing.
“So. What’s your story?” He prompted.
“Oh! I’m a student at the Witch Academy. They sent me to the Evermoore to uh… Look after the empires.” She grinned, her last few word filled with uncertainty.
“… What are the empires?”
“Honestly they’re all more like city-states. Theres the Ancient Capital, Animalia, Chromia, Cogsmeade, Dawn, the Evermoore, the Eversea-“ She paused to take a quick breath. “-Glimmergrove, the Goblands, Olipeligo, Sanctuary, Stratos, and Tumble Town.”
“Tumble Town?” He questioned, laughing slightly at the silly name.
“Mhm, home of The Sheriff himself. People keep saying he’s a toy but I don’t really know because I’ve been kinda… Avoiding him, recently.” Her tone grew weary.
“… Why?”
“I-… Okay, promise you won’t tell The Sheriff or any other witches, okay??” He nodded. “Okay. So, I’m not exactly… The best witch. I was known as the weak, unstable one in class. And so they sent me to the most dangerous place they could find, in the hopes that I wouldn’t come back…”
“Gods above, they sound worse than my teachers.”
“And naturally, I started doing magic to help people, because that’s what witches should do! And I may or may not have done something a little bit wrong and shifted reality itself- Temporarily! It fixed itself, but they found out! And expelled me! They demanded I return my hat and wand and go home, where I would be banned from practicing magic forever. A-and I might have tried to fake my death? And they found out about that too, and now I’m a wanted criminal!” She giggled nervously at the end, clear fear lacing her voice.
Xornoth didn’t answer for a long moment.
“… They are worse than my teachers.” He said simply. The witch laughed nervously in return.
“Demons have teachers?” She started to audibly relax, clearly meaning it as a joke. Did she think he was joking?
“Well…” He trailed, not knowing where to go with his sentence. Before he could continue, he was interrupted.
“Oh! We’re here!” She exclaimed, though he still didn’t dare to open his eyes. It wasn’t until he felt the boat hit something that he looked.
He was met with buildings. A lot of buildings, weaving around various paths, each made of weathered wood and hand-made terracotta in every color. Jungle trees and bamboo stalks dotted the city too, until it faded into a complete forest at the back.
“Wow…”
“Sausage!” Shelby called, hopping out of the boat and onto the small dock made of smooth spruce wood. Xornoth soon followed.
“SAUSAGE!” She called again, cupping her hands around her mouth. “EDDIE!” She started to walk up the path now.
“Who-“
“SAUSAGE!!!”
“Shel-“
“EDDIE!!!”
Xornoth gave up on getting her attention.
The witch walked through the paths like she had lived here her whole life, heading towards one specific building. The city was beautiful, looking as if somebody would burst out a window to welcome them any second. Though, everything was silent. Not a single creature came into view.
Shelby finally stopped in front of one building, gazing up in slight awe. It was more bricks than terracotta compared to the other buildings, with aged copper roofs and a chimney that was producing plumes of smoke. A large sign hung over the door, reading “SANCTUARY ARMORY” in bold letters.
“You stay out here, okay? Eddie isn’t too fond of strangers, and you are definitely strange.”
Xornoth nodded, ignoring the joking words as he moved to quietly lean against the wall while Shelby pushed her way through the front door. To his surprise, he could hear the commotion inside almost perfectly.
“Eddie!” Shelby exclaimed happily.
“Shelby! How ya’ doin’, kiddo?” An unfamiliar gruff voice replied just as cheerfully. “Unexpected visit, eh?”
“Yep! Sorry about that. Do you know where Sausage is? I need to talk to him urgently.”
“I haven’t seen him in a bit, no. I think he’s out in El Caldero de Colores negotiating with Bruno about prices n’ such.”
“Perfect! Gracias!”
“De nada!”
With that, the witch burst back out the door, grinning as cheerfully as ever. “Sausage is so lucky to have that old softie.”
She simply passed by Xornoth, walking casually down another pathway, the demon soon following close behind.
“Who was that?” He questioned cautiously.
“Oh, that was just Eddie, Sausages adopted dad.” She replied in a care-free way, as if there wasn’t a 10’3” demon following her who could probably very easily kill her if he wanted to.
“Oh… Neat.”
He continued to follow, mostly staring at the dirt path below out of habit, when a sudden electrifying gut feeling crept up on him.
They were being watched. By who, he didn’t know, though what he could sense nearly made him stop walking.
Whoever was watching them had the influence of a god.
“You okay?” The witch's voice cut through the rush of horrifyed thoughts, though the god-like presence remained.
“… We’re being watched.” He replied, his voice barely audible and edged with slight fear.
“Oh, good! Maybe they can help!” She exclaimed happily, somehow completely oblivious to how the demon was starting to panic. Gods were never a good thing. Even while the elves worshipped Aeor, they still hoped to avoid the eternal war that came with him. And he had known first-hand what Exor could do. “SAUSAGE!! YA’ THERE??” She called again.
The aura pulsed with an uncertain wave of what nearly felt like lightning, before quickly vanishing, accompanied by a distant rustle of leaves.
Xornoth let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding, quickly trotting to catch up to Shelby. She continued to call Sausage’s name, directly toward a new, larger building. It was massive. He honestly didn’t know how to really describe it.
It was two or three levels, the lower starting with bricks and merging into orange, green, and yellow terracotta, with various vines, leaves, and flowers seamlessly weaving with them. Another hanging sign made of shiny copper read “El Caldero de Colores!” above the door in a flowery font. Shelby opened the front spruce door without hesitation, and disappeared behind it. Before Xornoth could move to follow her, she firmly closed the door in his face.
“Rude.” He grumbled, before leaning on the door to listen as he had before. The only noise he heard for half a second was high-pitched chirping that sounded like an Allay.
“Sausage!” The witch exclaimed, followed by her footsteps advancing further in.
The chirping stopped, a new voice calling back.
“Shelby! Hello!”
He knew that voice.
That was Sausage. It was the exact same as the emperor he knew. Same child-like cheerfulness and excitement. He knew that person.
Xornoth didn’t know how to feel about it. He was in some distant land, scared and confused, and he had found someone familiar. He should have been happy to find any sense of familiarity in this unknown land, but all he felt was guilt, regret, and shame. He ruined this man’s life. He possessed him, tore apart his friendships, and forced him to torture his own honorary sister. But that was what he was supposed to do. His duty was to use anything at his disposal to fulfill his god's wishes.
“What brings you to the legendary Sanctuary?” Sausage continued jokingly.
“Okay- so. Remember that conversation we had where I said I would never mess with demons?”
“Of course! How could I forget?” He laughed, oblivious to what the point was.
“I did that.”
“What?”
“I messed with a demon.”
“Oh… Oh no.”
“Mhm.”
“Well that’s not good.” Silence stretched for an uncomfortable moment, before he burst out in excited laughter. “So what do you need help with? Banishment? Slaying?” He said eagerly.
“No no no! Nothing like that! He said he knew you, so we came over to talk.”
“We?”
“Me and the demon.”
Silence.
“You brought the demon here?” What sounded like panic started to rise in his voice.
“Don’t worry though! He’s-“
“YOU BROUGHT A DEMON TO SANCTUARY?!”
“I know that sounds bad! But-“
“YOU CANT BRING A DEMON TO A CITY LIKE THIS! THERES PEOPLE HERE! HERMES-“
“Calm down!” Shelby firmly silenced him. “Please listen. I accidentally summoned him, and he looks really scary and sounds really scary but I promise he’s harmless! He’s had every opportunity to hurt me and he hasn’t. If he had any bad intentions, then I wouldn’t be here right now.”
Those words sank into Xornoth like a knife. Harmless. He wasn’t harmless. He was the definition of harm. But she was right, wasn’t she? He had every opportunity to take advantage of her trust, yet he didn’t. He didn’t want to. Why didn’t he want to?
“Alright.” Sausage said uncertainly.
“HEY, XORNOTH! You can come in!” The witch shouted at the door.
Xornoth hesitated in front of the taverns door, resting one hand on the handle for a brief moment. Finally, he pushed his way inside.
He was met with a large wooden room, a bar to one side and several tables and chairs everywhere else, circles around a stage containing one strangely thin structural support that connected to one wall. In front of him stood two figures. Shelby, the first. Sausage, the second.
That was Sausage. He wore different clothes, lacked his signature gold and velvet crown, but it was still him. He looked up at Xornoth with wide, horrified eyes. Xornoth wanted to cry. He didn’t know why he did, but he still felt the threat of tears forming behind his own pupil-less glowing eyes. He felt overwhelming guilt hit him like a tsunami, consuming his ability to think properly. That’s when he noticed something.
The scar.
Sausages scar, the one across his right eye. The Sausage he knew’s scar was jagged, like it was torn. This one’s was a clean cut, like it was sliced.
It wasn’t him.
Before he could react, another horrifying presence entered. It was incredibly sudden, the same aura as before crashing into the room. All Xornoth could process was a short yellow and purple figure run in from some unseen back door before he found himself bursting out the front door. He ran as fast as he could, nothing but fear overtaking him. He started to hyperventilate, his vision blurring into a mess of too-bright colors. IT’S BEHIND ME IT’S GOING TO GET ME KEEP RUNNING IT’S GOING TO CATCH UP-
It was only a minute before he was running desperately through the jungle, curling leaves and vines twisting as if to grab him. He hated jungles. He hated what they reminded him of. He didn’t want to remember him. He hated how he felt like he could still hear the horrified screams of the felinefolk. He didn’t want to think. And yet his thoughts screamed at him that his deity was chasing him, that Exor was chasing him.
He didn’t know how long he had been running when his legs gave out under him. He collapsed, falling hard against a tree as his bark painfully scraped his side. He yelped through his strangled gasps, curling in on himself against the rough roots of the massive tree. His hands instinctively went to his horns, grasping them as if he would die if he let go. He found himself muttering incoherent nonsense, shivering uncontrollably.
He didn’t know what to do. What could he do?
He hated this. He hated feeling weak. He hated being vulnerable. He hated emotions. He had just run from what he could only call a friend, and was now cowering in the middle of a jungle, alone. He used to be feared…
What happened to him?