Apostles of Doom

“This is perhaps the greatest moment in the long history of the Citadel. All five Attending Archons, all five prophets, three saints and two apostles?” Rassnon was shaking his head. “Thirteen avatars and two apostles? The Storm Lords do not stand a chance!” He looked to Grob. “We shall be victorious! I cannot tell you how my heart sings. Before you showed up, we were fearful of our very survival. Now? Now we have a chance to strike at the very heart of darkness!”

Grob looked to the sky, spreading his arms wide, and shouted. “All praise be to the glory of the Five Siblings!”

Isle of Doom, Krallnomton: Early Third Period

Talarius stood on an ancient stone platform overlooking the practice fields, watching the D’Orcs’ war games. He had to admit it was more than a little intimidating. He would not want to be the opposing army. The D’Orcs were wielding insanely massive weapons that no mortal could even lift, let alone swing. He would not want to be hit by one of those things; the concussion alone would knock him halfway across the battlefield.

“Impressive, aren’t they?” someone asked beside him.

Talarius started. He’d been so engrossed in the war games, he had allowed a complete stranger to sneak up on him! His inner turmoil was clearly taking a toll on him, causing him to let his guard down. He looked over to the stranger.

It was a young man, perhaps twenty years of age, with slightly pale skin that was unusual on this island, and fairly long, very curly black hair. He was wearing a very fancy set of layered robes with all sorts of magical runes and symbols woven into the fabric.

Talarius nodded. “They are indeed; I would not want to face them in battle,” he said, looking at the young man. He seemed vaguely familiar.

“Nor would I,” the young man said with a chuckle. “Fortunately, that is not a problem I will have.”

“No,” Talarius agreed. “I’m sorry, have we met? You look vaguely familiar.”

The young man grinned broadly and then chuckled again. “It’s me, Tom — or rather Edwyrd, as I call this form.”

Talarius did a double take and blinked. “Tom? Lord Tommus?” the knight asked in shock.

“The same,” the young man said. “Also the mysterious Lord Edwyrd that the Oorstemothians pursued to Freehold.”

Talarius shook his head. “Ah, yes. I remember you mentioning him back in the cave. So this is the form that your human friends saw?”

“Indeed.” Tom — or Edwyrd — turned, smiling, to look out once more at the wargames.

“Yet this is not the form you used after my defeat?” Talarius said.

Edwyrd nodded. “I did not want anyone to recognize Edwyrd as being me, so I improvised.”

“So you were in Freehold in this form while we were camped outside?” Talarius asked.

“Yes, as you know. My demon form tends to freak people out,” Edwyrd said.

“I would agree,” Talarius said. “So which is the real you?”

“Now? Ever since I was summoned, the big demon form is my true, default form. This”—he gestured down at himself—“is close to what I looked like as a human in New Jersey. I just made the form a little older to get more respect from the people I was traveling with.”

“Can you take any form?” Talarius asked.

“In theory; in practice, it is much more difficult. I have to work hard to keep a consistent form and appearance — you know, keep a mole from moving from cheek to cheek?” Edwyrd grinned. “So as a result, I, and others who can do this, establish a set of defined, memorized forms that we reinforce with paintings or statues to help us remember finer details.”

“How many forms do you have memorized?” Talarius asked.

“Not many. I have only just added an orc form; still working on that one. Other than that, just the demon form and this one,” Edwyrd said.

“So why are you using this form again all of a sudden? There should be no need for a disguise in a place where you rule in your demon form,” Talarius said.

“Practice,” Edwyrd said. He ran his hands down the robes. “Up until now, I’ve always worn normal clothes in this form; however, I recently learned that most demons create their clothes as part of their form. And so I’ve been practicing that. This is my first public test run with these rather complicated clothes.”

Talarius frowned, puzzled, and looked more closely at the robes. “You are telling me that these robes and your boots — they are actually you?”

“Indeed. However, I am wearing real underclothes. At the moment, if I get startled, I’m likely to end up naked. So the undergarments are a safety net.”

“Modesty?” Talarius shook his head. “As I recall, you were completely naked when we first met. You only got the loincloth at Hellsprings Eternal.”

“I know,” Edwyrd said and then shook his head. “It is the weirdest thing, and I’ve found no one who can explain it, but as a demon, being naked doesn’t bother me in the least. The loincloth is for pockets, and so I don’t distract others, as Reggie does quite a bit. The funny thing is that when I am in this form, or my new orc form, I have a sense of modesty.”