Lucinder appeared before his father with the pretty blonde hair of the screaming mortal brat clenched tightly in his fists. Beside the child he looked like a monster; a tall, lithe, and pale creature with skin like that of a corpse and long white hair that framed a gaunt portrait of a black sneer and black eyes. His long nails dug into the little girl's scalp and he held her tightly despite her shrieks and struggles. He cared little for her cries. They elicited no sense of guilt or sympathy. They only annoyed him.
"It is done, Father," he announced over the cries of the child.
"You've done well. Are you ready for what is to come next?" Atronachus asked from where he sat on his throne of granite.
At his father's question, his fist clenched even tighter while the child beat uselessly upon his legs and screamed.
"Certainly. What shall be done with this thing?" Lucinder then inquired, jerking the child's hair savagely. "Should I torture and kill it?"
"No. There has never been a living mortal here. I am not certain what would happen if you kill her. She may just return to Daedronus's realm and I cannot risk that," Atronachus stated as he eyed the frantic girl with disgust.
"You mean for us to keep her here?" Lucinder demanded, his eyebrows raising in question.
"Certainly not. I don't want that disgusting thing here. It is an abomination. Mortal children do not belong in any part of this realm. Besides, even in his weakened state, Daedronus may be able to retrieve her from here. I don't wish to risk that either. I want you to take her somewhere beyond the Domain of the Lords where no Lord has power or sight," Atronachus ordered.
"The Plains of Haradreth?" Lucinder gasped, his eyes widening and his brows raising again in surprise.
"Do you object?" his father demanded.
"We never go there. It's dangerous. We could... well I could... I could die there," Lucinder complained, his black sneer turning into an expression of concern.
"Go, coward. You shan't be there long enough for the beasts of Haradreth to tear you apart. She will be," Atronachus announced. "Now do as I say!"
Lucinder was not pleased. He disappeared with the child at his father's command and reappeared in a ghastly place that no Lord or god dared to venture. The Plains of Haradreth.
"There. You're free. Go!" Lucinder snarled as he finally released the terrified child and shoved her away from him.
Beneath his feet the red earth cracked and rumbled beneath the boiling crust of land. Above him the sky was a sallow gray around a black sun ringed in white. Distant mountains rumbled with the impending threat of disaster.
The Land of Haradreth was a place of constant creation and constant destruction where everything was and wasn't. The sun was perpetually eclipsed by the moon, leaving both a sun and a moon in the foreboding sky, yet neither one seemed to really be there at all. Entire races of plants and animals evolved and died out in a mere century and more rose up to replace them as the land continually reformed itself in devastating earthquakes and eruptions.
Vegetation was scarce and threatening as the few living plants that competed for the shallow ring of sunlight had developed terrifying ways of defending themselves. Most of the starving plants had also evolved to eat the flesh of anything that tried to eat them, or perhaps that wandered by unwittingly. Though the plants still fed from the sickly sunlight, most had nearly evolved into beasts.
The beasts of Haradreth were survivalists and predators beyond compare to anything found in the Domain of the Lords or the Eight Realms. There was not a beast in the land that was not equipped with superior strength, razor teeth and claws, agile muscles, and bone plating that shielding all major organs beneath nearly impenetrably thick skin. Even a god or Lord could die easily in this monstrous place as they were severed from the majority of their powers when they crossed over into the violent land of monsters.
"Please don't leave me here!" the child cried in a hoarse voice as she wrapped her arms around his leg, holding tightly.
Perplexed, Lucinder tried to kick her free with no luck.
"Get off of me!" he shouted as he pried her free and flung her away to the quaking red dirt.
He was not born the God of Cruelty for naught. In that moment Lucinder felt nothing for the child besides annoyance and he was rather glad to be rid of her, even if she would die a horrific and painful death. She deserved such a fate for her irritating behavior. He turned away, prepared to leave.
"Lucinder!" she cried, her small hand gripping the fabric of his cloak.
The sudden shock of a strange and foreign feeling tore through Lucinder's body and he shook at the sensation.
"Don't touch me!" he cried at the little girl as he ripped his cloak from her hand and backed away.
"Please don't leave me here! Please!" she begged, her huge blue eyes filled with tears. "Please! You don't have to! I don't want to die!"
Within his father's realm, Lucinder was the patron saint of the cruel. It was from their emotions that he drew his strength and over them was his domain. He had never felt compassion or mercy for another creature. He obeyed his father, not out of love, but out of habit or fear. Here, in the Plains of Haradreth, he was suddenly something else. The only mortal from which he could draw energy was this child, this creature who was terribly full of love and compassion and mercy. Panic overwhelmed him.
"Just stay away from me," Lucinder told the girl as he took another step back. He had to get out of here.
"Please don't leave me! Please! I'll be quiet and I won't scream or fight! I'll do whatever you want! Please don't leave," she begged.
Suddenly the God of Cruelty was torn. He wanted to leave this terrible land so badly that part of his soul wanted to rip its way out from his body and disappear. Yet a growing part of him wanted to take the child with him. He could not disobey his father. Besides, his father had a plan. They were going to destroy Daedronus and then Lucinder would become a Lord himself. He wouldn't have to obey his father any longer. He would make his own rules and do whatever he wanted then.
"I have business to attend to. If you're still here when I'm done, I'll come back," he declared, which seemed like a fairly reasonable compromise.
His announcement eased the ache in his mind enough that he managed to tear himself away from the child and return to his father's throne room, leaving the little girl alone in a place that even Lords of realms and demon gods would not dare to venture.
"What took you so long? He's here! Go!" Atronachus barked sternly.
Lucinder felt the overwhelming and suffocating power of another Lord enter their kingdom. Daedronus had come. All the guilt had evaporated from his conscience and any semblance of compassion had frozen over into the biting cold cruelty to which he was accustomed. Now it was time for him to become a Lord. Yet, for some reason, Lucinder still intended to keep his word and go back for the child. He shook his head at his own ridiculous thought. Something strange had become of him.
Daedronus slammed open the doors of Atronachus's throne room. Raw, angry power encircled him in a glowing aura of rage.
"You look upset," Atronachus noted as he lounged nonchalantly upon his granite throne in the dark and drab stone room lit only by shallow glowing pools around its edges.
"What you've done is unforgiveable," Daedronus raged.
"Bringing a living mortal to our realm to be your whore is unforgiveable."
"Give the child back or I will kill you and give your Grand Divinity Stone to my servant!" Daedronus snarled.
"Do you think you can? I welcome you to try," Atronachus invited as he stood from his throne and sauntered towards his enemy. "You're in my house. I've been waiting millennia to do this."
Atronachus raised his arms and summoned the energy of his kingdom to gather around him. While Daedronus brought his own glowing aura of rage, Atronachus's entire body began to glow with a white coating of energy until his form disappeared into a glowing being of pure power. Daedronus did not waver.
The two Lords stood head to head for an impossibly long moment before the long kept rage of Atronachus finally unleashed itself in the form of white energy blast. His fist drew back and he swung it at his enemy with all the force of a Lord who'd been enraged for millennia. When his fist hit Daedronus's aura, the stones beneath their feet cracked and a blast of energy rippled out through the air around them, cracking the stone walls nearby.
Daedronus was prepared for hit and while it pushed him back, his open palm had absorbed most of the blow. His own aura grew brighter as he drew in the released energy that Atronachus had wasted. His enemy did not falter and did not wait long before unleashing punch after punch that knocked Daedronus back farther and farther until he collided with the crumbling stone wall behind him.
Though each blow had hurt terribly, the Lord had used each one to his advantage, collecting more and more of Atronachus's limitless energy for himself. Then it was time. He caught the last blow between two glowing fists and wrenched his opponent's arm from its socket. Atronachus roared at the sudden pain. Then Daedronus dove in with blows of his own, knocking his enemy back and driving him away. Stones shattered around them and the granite throne fell to pieces as Atronachus stumbled back into it.
Atronachus rose up from the shambles of his throne with a vengeance that left the two Lords locked in powerful battle that would not end well or soon. If they continued to fight evenly matched, they would eventually drain their respective realms of energy and kill every living thing there was. But neither would give in. Atronachus knew he would rather destroy the universe than yield to his most hated rival and Daedronus was prepared to lose his existence to save the child and the woman he loved.
Lucinder appeared in the room above Daedronus's tower. The Grand Divinity Stone glowed brightly in its center. Before him stood an armored Daedran general and the mortal female whose existence had caused so much of a disturbance. No matter what his father said, Lucinder would give Daedronus credit for choosing a beautiful mortal female, if nothing else.
"Get out of my way," Lucinder snarled at the Daedran guarding the mortal and the stone.
"Go back to where you came from," the servant snarled back as he drew a black blade from its sheath at his side.
