//------------------------------//
// II-II. The Gathering Storm 
// Story: Hùndùn 
// by LoZLttP13 
//------------------------------//

Panic.

Surely it couldn't be true. Surely Twilight and Spike must have misheard Celestia. It couldn't possibly really be that Prince Scorpan had returned to the Earth from his prison in the Sixth Hell of Tartarus, right?

Scorpan was said to be one of the more chaotic and destructive of the Gods, and so if he were to be unsealed, it would be regarded as the herald of great disruption and suffering in the lives of the mortal Beings. Twilight did not know many things about the Lord of Storms, except that the old legends held him to be remarkably selfish, arrogant, greedy, vain, and cruel, even by the standards of the Dark Sealed Gods. He had regarded mortals as nothing more than his servants and playthings, even after Celestia defeated the previous five Sealed Gods, was crowned the High Princess of the World, and had granted all Beings freedom and forbidden the violation of their rights. Twilight had rarely felt so unsafe as she did now, as Scorpan would almost certainly be the sort of man who held such enormous power and few inhibitions that he could and would do whatever he wanted to her (or anyone else) with impunity, and had only not done so for eons because he was struck down in ancient times by one of the handful of Beings even more powerful than him.

Twilight jolted and yelped in fright as Celestia broke her out of her fearful thoughts; "It will do no good to dwell on it for much longer, Twilight. Breathe, and recollect yourself."

After a moment, Twilight nodded before closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths. Gradually, her panic subsided until she could think rationally again; once she could, she opened her eyes and said, "So that is why you have summoned me here, Princess?"

Celestia nodded. "Yes," she said before holding out the letter in her hand. Her Marks and eyes glowed dimly with pink Ether as she levitated the envelope into Twilight's fingers, saying, "Read it."

"Yes, Your Highness," Twilight replied, immediately shaking the parchment out of the envelope. As she unfolded the letter, Spike edged closer to her to see it as well as she read aloud:

"My Dearest Sisters Celestia and Luna,

I am immeasurably sorry for disturbing you, and offer my deepest apologies for it. However, this is a matter of grave importance that I must inform the two of you of immediately: Scorpan has escaped from Tartarus, and I have encountered him in our castle at Asgard today.

I have absolutely no idea whatsoever how he has escaped from his prison, but I assure you I immediately began efforts in my kingdom to discover how. If I learn anything about it, I will inform you of it as soon as possible.

Here is the manner in which I encountered our brother: I was holding court in my throne room when Scorpan arrived at my doorstep. I was receiving the council of my Royal Economists in order to decide how to go about making reforms in Asgard's tax law at the time. Suddenly, I heard some of my guards shouting from outside the throne room's entrance, as though they had encountered an unwelcome intruder, but I heard some scuffling before they were abruptly silenced. The doors were then slammed open and Scorpan entered the room.

Though we have not seen Scorpan in tens of thousands of years, I have no doubt it was him; his appearance and Marks are exactly as I remember them, though his hairstyle and attire were far more modern than the white toga and roughly cut hair you had sealed him in.

You can imagine my shock and surprise; fortunately, my scribe diligently recorded the entirety of our conversation we had, so I can relay it to you with perfect accuracy:

"Hello, Dear Brother," Scorpan said.

"Scorpan!" I cried.

"Yes, it is I," he replied with an amused chuckle. "Surprised, are you?"

Because I was to flabbergasted to speak at that moment, he continued, "Were you the one who ordered the Rituals that unsealed me, Brother?"

Having regained my wits, though still quite shocked that he had returned, I said, "No. And you should still be imprisoned."

Scorpan seemed angered. "So you never attempted to have me released?!" he shouted. "Pah! It is clear to me now how worthless your loyalty is! You've cast your lot in with our fool sister!"

"I did attempt to have you released," I replied. "Celestia never let me anywhere near the vicinity of Tartarus, however, and even if I had managed to reach you her Seals would have been beyond my strength to break. I then lost any will to defy the High Princess."

Scorpan seemed less upset, though he was now sneering. "Instead, you chopped your balls off and gave them to her. I see no slave-girls, no wine, no banquet- you've allowed our prig sister to steal all of our merry pleasures from you!"

"You are true about one thing, Scorpan," I returned; "when Celestia banished you into the Sixth Hell, I immediately ceased raping and pillaging the mortals for fear of meeting the same fate. However, as time trudged on, I lost my desire to; I live in a magnificent palace, enjoy many luxuries, and can enjoy a woman's warmth anytime I desire to. As a result, I've found that I can still enjoy my pleasures while still acting within the boundaries our sister has set."

Scorpan scoffed. "But Brother, you are her slave!" he cried. "You are groveling and obeying her like a meek little housewife! Didn't we overthrow our father precisely to escape that? To have none rule over us, and to rule over the lesser Beings, as we should?"

"True though that may be, I cannot overthrow Celestia," I replied. "Woman though she is, she still has more power than us and all of our other siblings put together, and I must therefore submit to her will. However, I've found that doing so isn't at all unpleasant; I can still enjoy life's finer things, Celestia is satisfied, and even the mortals are freer of fear and suffering, and thus I've found this arrangement to be mutually advantageous all around."

Scorpan scoffed again. "I can see that our sister's womanly sentimentality has begun to take hold of your mind, Brother. Why do you bother yourself with the woes of the lowly mortals? Why relinquish a beauteous treasure or a night of sensual bliss, simply to quell the insignificant distress of some inconsequential mayflies? Mortals' lives are brief, Horus. They are like candies; if you desire one, you must take it before it disappears and is lost forever."

I said nothing, and Scorpan seemed to understand the message I sent by doing so, for he sighed and said, "It seems your mind cannot be swayed on this matter. However, I still extend an offer to you:

"I am gathering my followers, and they have pledged allegiance to me as citizens of my kingdom. I had hoped that I could once again call Asgard that kingdom, though it seems our hysterical sister's sobbing heart has bled onto yours. If ever you remember that we Gods are superior above all other Beings, and that Goddesses are weak slaves to their hysteria and heartache, and decide to return to your rightful place- not as the servant to any mortal or Goddess, but as their Lord- I will be sitting beside an empty throne I place beside my own in the castle of my new heavenly empire."

With that, Scorpan spread his wings and flew out of the window above my throne, shattering it.

The instant Scorpan was out of my castle, I shouted, "Guards! Find the ones who released Scorpan, and learn what his followers are planning to do now!"

My guards obeyed, and immediately began executing my order.

I am still conducting my searches now, and offer you any other aid you might require of me. Please let me know if you will need anything else.

Loyally yours,

Your brother, Horus, the Prince of Asgard and God of the Heavens."

As Twilight reached the end of the letter and began folding it back up, Celestia said, "Now, could you return it to me, please, Twilight?"

Twilight nodded and stepped forward, handing the parchment and the envelope back to the Princess. As she did so, Spike said, "So, what do you need us for, Your Highness?"

"That is an excellent question, Spike," Celestia replied to him with a small smile. "Do not worry; I do not expect you or Twilight to capture Scorpan for me. I simply asked you to come here to warn you of him, and to ask you to warn the citizens of Avalon, as well."

Twilight's brow furrowed in confusion. "Why do you need us to warn Avalon that Scorpan's returned?" she said.

Celestia took a deep breath, closed her eyes, sat silently for a few moments, then said, "Because there are a few other things that you should know, which are for the ears of you and Spike, and the two of you alone. I had hoped that this would never happen, but I should explain something now so you can understand the entire scope and nature of this situation:

"As you'll certainly recall, as you were there to witness the Beings who did so yourself, Luna was unsealed on the Summer Solstice this year. I had planned to release her myself if no others did so before me, assuming she would be willing to behave civilly- and, happily, she was."

Here, Celestia exchanged a soft smile and nod with her sister. "Needless to say," she continued after turning back to Twilight, "things did not go as I planned. I did not expect for any other Beings to have the power, let alone the desire to free my sister before I did, but the events that transpired demonstrated me to be wrong. I also did not plan for Luna to be able to successfully capture me and make a successful coup of my throne as High Princess, especially as quietly and swiftly as she did."

Here Luna chuckled. "Not unimpressive, wouldn't you say?" she said with a smirk. "Celestia's power so utterly eclipses my own that what I accomplished was nothing short of the magnitude of a tiny child prince successfully taking his father king hostage and extorting his ransom from their kingdom."

"Yes, my sister exceeded even my greatest expectations of her," Celestia said. "However, I had prepared for even that, the very worst possible scenario; even if Luna did successfully usurp me and permanently cement her reign as the new High Princess, I believed that she would still have been a fairly just ruler, even if she weren't as just as she should be. But more importantly, I believed that she would attempt to ensure that none of the other Dark Gods would be released every bit as diligently as I have, if not even more so.

"In summation, any outcome of the eve of the Summer Solstice would have been acceptable to me; if none released Luna, I would have released her myself and thereafter considered any threats to my subjects to be neutralized; if someone did release Luna and I recaptured her, the end result would have been the same, except that I would know that someone had both the ability and the desire to release at least one Sealed God. If Luna escaped and then successfully usurped me, I believed that she would take up my duties and ensure against the return of any more Dark Gods herself."

"So... you didn't consider Luna to be a danger to the world at all?" Twilight said.

Celestia smiled. "Well, I thought that she posed very little threat to the world, but yes," she replied with a small chuckle. "And for that reason, I made her Seal light so as to test the possibility of one of the other Sealed Gods returning. The other Sealed Gods are my true concern, for though I always intended to allow Luna's return, I never intended to allow the release of any of the others."

Twilight blinked as she gazed with a bit of fearfulness at Celestia. "So... you wanted the other six Dark Gods to be imprisoned... forever?"

Celestia nodded. "Yes. For though I believed (rightly, it seems) that Luna was simply a little lost and needed only some time to find her way again, I doubt that any of the other Dark Gods have such capability to change."

Celestia leaned against the back of her throne and clasped her hands over her lap as she continued, "In other words, this is the first time you mortals have the urgent need to fear for your own safety from a divine Being. Scorpan is not like Luna; he is not driven by sorrow or loneliness, but by his cravings, desires, and primal impulses. He is a creature of bottomless hedonism. Though his power is minuscule against that of my sister, he poses a greater threat to you mortals, because he cares for no one but himself and is concerned only with his own self-gratification. He has no interest in conquering the world; only in taking anything he desires regardless of the damage he causes in doing so.

"When I Sealed Scorpan, it was not with an army at my back; there was no great war between us. He simply refused to heed my warning that I would punish him if he would not stop robbing, raping, murdering, and destroying the homes and livelihoods of our mortal subjects. He didn't seem to take me at my word when I said that I did care about you mortals enough that I would, in fact, cast one of my brothers into Tartarus to be imprisoned until the end of time itself to defend them. Or perhaps he was simply so foolishly assured of his own power that he fancied himself a match for me. Whatever reasons he had, I tried to warn him, he didn't listen, and so he brought his fate upon himself; I confronted him, fought him, and captured him not a minute after our duel began. I Sealed him in the Sixth Hell of Tartarus, which is a suitable punishment, I think; he was damned to be forever deprived of those depraved pleasures he so unwisely gambled his freedom for."

Spike snickered. "Wow, what an idiot...." he muttered.

Celestia frowned at Spike. "Do not underestimate the Lord of Tempests, my child," she said sternly. "Though by the standards of the Gods, he is foolish and impulsive and contemptible, the fact remains that he is still an immortal, divine God. Though he is an idiot child among the Pantheon, he is still cleverer than the wisest Elf sage; faster than the swiftest racing pegasus; and stronger than the hardiest Human warrior. Make no mistake, young Spike- though he is a lesser God, he is still an opponent that is astronomically beyond the reach of any mortal."

"But we were able to beat Luna!" Spike cried indignantly.

Luna shook her head. "No, you were not," she said. "What you accomplished was indeed a great feat, but do not grow so prideful over it as to falsely claim that you bested the Princess of the Night. It was Celestia who defeated me; and rest assured that were she not there, you would have inevitably still sorely and swiftly lost- even with every other mortal and free God on your side. Did you think that you had witnessed even the tiniest fraction of the extent of my power that night? Ha! What a laughable notion. It's almost amusing."

Spike glared at Luna, who continued as though she didn't notice it, "The only reason that any of you are alive is that I wasn't even trying to kill you. What you saw wasn't even the barest wave of my littlest finger. You want to see my true wrath, little boy? With a snap of my fingers, I can obliterate this entire mountain and leave only a vast, empty crater in its place. Would you like to see it?"

Spike's glare faltered and he took a fearful step away from Luna, whose eyes were narrowed as she smirked maliciously and held up her hand, positioning her fingers for a snap.

"Peace, Sister," Celestia said firmly, placing her hand on Luna's shoulder. With a sigh, Luna lowered her hand again.

Celestia turned back to the young Elves and continued, "Please understand, young ones, that I do not caution you against challenging Scorpan because I doubt your strength or capability; it is simply that subduing him is a feat of the same magnitude as lifting a thunderstorm. The Moon- though immensely powerful- is quite gentle, and rarely does it harm anyone, but few are the mortals that can be struck by a bolt of lightning from a thundercloud and live to tell the tale."

After a moment of silence, Twilight nodded. "I understand, Princess," she said.

Celestia's expression softened. "Very well," she said. "I have told you all you need to know. Do you have any further questions?"

"Yeah," said Spike. "So, me and Twi already knew a lot of this stuff- like, how Scorpan is as restless and wild as a raging hurricane, and that your battle with him was the shortest, things like that. But we thought that he wanted to usurp you, and that you had a clash between your kingdoms' armies, and we had no idea that you might've Sealed Horus then, too. Now you're saying that all of that was wrong. Why didn't you tell us before?"

Celestia smiled. "That is quite a good question, Spike," she said. "Here is why I have done so; any Being who would desire to release one of the Sealed Gods would also likely desire to gain their alliance. To diminish their ability to do this, I've deliberately omitted detailed descriptions of the Dark Gods' powers and personalities from the history books so that mortals who could release them would have no idea what to expect of them. Diplomacy is possible only when you know who it is you're addressing, yes?"

Spike nodded. "I get it," he said. "But... why did you tell us anything about them, then?"

"Truth be told, I would rather have wiped the Sealed Gods from you mortals' knowledge entirely," Celestia replied. "However, you wouldn't have forgotten them; instead, they would have passed into legends with songs and tales of greater detail and that paint them in a more favorable light than the ones I have ever given you. What I have told my subjects about the Sealed Gods is meager and vague enough that you know little about them; but what you do know is grim and ominous so as to discourage you from attempting to release them."

Spike nodded. "Alright. That makes sense," he said.

"Is there anything else you would like to know, my students?" Celestia asked with a small, kind smile.

Twilight shook her head. "No, Your Highness; I only request permission to relay the news of Scorpan's return to the Mayor of Avalon, and have her warn our neighbors to be wary of him."

Celestia nodded. "Yes, you may, Twilight," she said. "Good thinking; in fact, I think that would be better than if you made the announcement yourself, as it will allow you to keep your involvement in all this a secret. Just remember to tell Mayor Meyer only that Scorpan has returned; mention nothing else I have confided in you; and instruct her to speak to no one else about this order you have from me."

Twilight nodded. "Yes, Princess," she replied.

With that, Celestia held up her hand; conjured a small, floating ball of pink Ether above it; then transmuted it into a disk of pure rose gold bearing her Royal Seal. She then levitated it into the palm of Twilight, who knew exactly what it was and how she was to use it; it was a Seal of Royal Command, to be used as proof of Celestia's blessing of the message Twilight delivered, and then destroyed once its purpose had been fulfilled, so that no others could abuse Celestia's authority. "You may now return to Avalon, my faithful student," Celestia said.

Twilight nodded as she pocketed the golden Seal. "Yes, Your Highness," she said, then she and Spike turned around and walked back out of the throne room.

Twilight and Spike returned to the train station, bought tickets back to Avalon, then boarded one of the cars scheduled to arrive back at their home. They fell asleep again shortly after they sat in one of the booths together; it was about half an hour after eight o'clock in the morning when they were again awakened by the train's conductors.

Once they were back at Avalon Station, Twilight immediately said to Spike, "Let's go see Mayor Meyer," to which her apprentice nodded in agreement. 

They quickly began strolling to Town Square to find her office; once they arrived there, however, they suddenly jumped and yelped in fright as they suddenly heard someone cheerfully cry, "Hi, Twilight! Hi, Spike!"

Twilight and Spike fearfully turned to the source of the noise, who they saw to be a cheerfully-smiling Pinkie Pie. "Where have you guys been?" she said, fluttering her eyes. "I went to the library to check out a book this morning, but it was closed, and neither of you were there! You didn't even leave a note saying where you'd gone!"

Twilight glanced anxiously at Spike for an instant, then nervously laughed, "Uh... we were just... you know, um...."

"Yyyyeeeeessss...?" Pinkie pressed, leaning forward with eyes full of curiosity.

"We weren't doing anything important! Really, Pinkie!" Twilight cried, her anxiety visually building within her.

"Is it a secret?" Pinkie continued, growing obviously more excited. "Ooh, tell me! I promise I won't tell anyone! Honest to Celestia! I Pinkie promise! Pretty pretty please?" she cried, pouting imploringly.

"I can't tell you, Pinkie!" Twilight cried, obviously now quite distressed.

Pinkie wouldn't back down. "Pretty, pretty, pretty pretty please with a cherry on top? I swear by the grave of my Granny Pie that I won't tell a single soul!"

Spike let out a loud sigh. "Alright.,.." he muttered. "I'll tell you then, Pinkie-"

"What-?! No!" Twilight cried. "Spike, we can't!"

"It's no use trying to hide it anymore, Twi," Spike said calmly. "One of our friends was bound to find out sooner or later."

Twilight was frozen with panic; before she could protest further, however, Spike said, "Well, here goes.... You can't tell anyone this, Pinkie, but... me and Twilight were off on a secret romantic rendezvous."

Twilight's eyes widened with tremendous surprise; Pinkie looked every bit as stunned as she was. After a few moments, Pinkie quietly asked, "R...really?" 

Spike nodded, then smirked. "Yep," he said, wrapping an arm around Twilight's waist and pulling her against his side. "There's no use in pretending anymore; my brilliant, sexy, smokin'-hot mentor is my girlfriend," he continued, grinning and winking at Pinkie.

Twilight began blushing furiously, then Pinkie made an enormous gasp and exclaimed, "You...?! Is it true, Twilight?! Are you really...?!"

Twilight closed her eyes, swallowed, then tremblingly replied, "Y-yes. Yes, um.... Spike really is my... my boyfriend...."

Pinkie gaped at them for a few moments, then she gasped and her face broke into an enormous grin as her eyes narrowed mischievously. "Well, I'll be damned!" she cried. She then gazed at Spike and purred, "Well, look at you go, Casanova. I don't know if I would've ever guessed that you had it in ya to charm ol' Twilight into breaking the rules...." before breaking into giggles.

Spike scoffed. "Please," he said, smirking again. "What didja take me for, Pinkie? Just another cute little face? Come on, Pink, seduction is in my blood. You should've seen my sister; she had even more charm than I do. I can't think of any straight guy or lesbian girl who didn't have an enormous crush on her."

Pinkie giggled again, then Twilight said, "Remember, Pinkie- you promised not to tell anyone-"

"I won't, I won't," Pinkie replied, laughing. She then nodded towards the Sugar Shack as she said, "Anyway, my shift's about to start. When you're on another break, you should swing by sometime; I'll give you two a shake with two straws and a box of heart chocolates, on the house."

Pinkie giggled again, Twilight looked away from her embarrassedly, then Pinkie waved at them before skipping off to the Sugar Shack.

Once Pinkie had entered the shop, Twilight turned to Spike and said, "Good... good work, Spike. I don't think I could ever have improvised as amazingly as you did...."

Spike beamed. "What can I say?" he said. "I'm a pretty great storyteller."

Twilight nodded, sighed relievedly, then said, "Let's go; we still need to see the Mayor."

Spike nodded, then followed Twilight as she went to the tower of Town Hall and entered it.





Cyclone had been told to come to these ruins by his brothers of Alpha Supreme, a fraternity of adherents to the teachings of the Storm-God Prince Scorpan. He was the head of his local chapter of the fraternity, which was notorious for being on particularly hostile terms with the law enforcement of its members' home kingdoms, even by the standards of cults to the Lord of Tempests. Members of Alpha Supreme were often accused of drugging their dates, vandalizing everything from public playgrounds to gay bars, committing vicious hate crimes against LGBT men, and punishing women they considered to be enemies to their cause by kidnapping and brutally gang-raping them. Though they were able to avoid being forcefully disbanded by the Divine Pantheon by claiming that any members successfully convicted of such crimes were only fringe extremist radicals who did not represent their official positions, it was clear to everyone that this was merely a facade to shield them from facing legal consequences for their actions, and that they were in truth the most violent and misogynistic- and therefore adamant and true- disciples of Prince Scorpan.

It was for that exact reason that their leader, a high-ranking Diamond Dog named Noir, had been the mortal Being that Scorpan first approached after he had escaped from Tartarus. Scorpan had commended Noir for his utter dedication to living their philosophy, and had instructed him to summon the other leaders of Alpha Supreme to the ruins of Thebes, an ancient city that had been destroyed in the second War of the Gods thousands of years ago.

Thebes had been the first city-state of Princess Athena before the founding of Athens, which was only a few leagues away. Thebes stood in a wide, grassy plain near the southeastern border of Equestria, which was usually warmer than the settlements near Olympus. Once a grand, beautiful, and prosperous city, Thebes was still regarded as one of the greatest examples of Classical architecture, with fragments of marble buildings held up by crumbling stone pillars scattered throughout the overgrown rubble and still standing, even after tens of thousands of years since their construction.

Cyclone stepped over the fragments of marble walls and ceilings of the buildings that had once been there until he saw another young man, who nodded towards the city's center as he said, "There you are. We've been waiting for you. We are meeting the Prince at the Temple of Athena."

Cyclone nodded, then followed his fellow chapter-head as he led him to the temple.

Within a few minutes, the two men arrived at their destination. The Temple of Athena was remarkably whole, when compared to the toppled buildings surrounding it; though a few of its pillars had fallen and much of its walls and steps had withered away, it could still be comfortably used as a shelter or a meetinghouse, so long as no rain fell through the open ceiling where its roof had once been. Fortunately, it was quite sunny; after all, even if it was supposed to rain now, the Spirit of Storms himself was there to ensure that no such interruption would befall them.

Once Cyclone and his guide had scaled the front steps and entered the temple, they found a couple dozen other men there. Followers of Scorpan weren't as numerous as they once were; since Celestia's defeat of Luna a millennium ago, their ranks numbering well into the tens of thousands had slowly dwindled until Alpha Supreme consisted now only a handful of chapters of one or two dozen members each, adding up to around five hundred in total.

Cyclone and his guide were greeted by their fraternal brothers. They were then given a command by their Supreme Leader Noir, a pale and skinny young Human man with long, greasy black hair, eerie gray eyes, many fine scars all over his face, and a mace upon his thighs; he barked, "Kneel, brothers, to our lord Prince Scorpan, the God of Storms!"

All of the brothers fell to one knee, bowed their heads, and placed their hands over their hearts as they turned to the crumbling marble throne sitting before them, upon which Prince Scorpan was lounging.

Scorpan was a tall, slender, muscular man whose appearance was quite youthful despite the fact that he was older than the very ruins surrounding him and the ancient throne he sat upon. Everything about him reminded anyone who looked upon him of the sky- especially a stormy one; he was deeply tanned as though he was never away from the light of the sun, despite having spent eons locked in the dark depths of Tartarus. His hair was long and spiked, his enormous wings looked just like those of a falcon, and both of them were the exact same color: a dark shade of silver, exactly like that of a storm cloud. He had an extraordinarily handsome face, with a pointed nose, angular jaw, and a pair of enormous, electric-blue, hawk-like eyes that were so intense that they seemed to be disks of stained glass smelted from lightning. Fittingly, the Markings on his sides and arms were weaves of lightning as blue as his eyes and clouds as silver as his wings, with a single cloud flashing a single lightning-bolt on each of his thighs, shoulders, and hands. However, only the Marks on his arms and hands could be seen by his followers at that moment, as the rest were hidden by his clothing; he was wearing tight indigo jeans, a pair of silver sneakers, a black tank top with vibrant blue lining and emblazoned with a saturated lightning storm design, and over the tank top a billowing, unbuttoned sky-blue short-sleeved shirt. He looked exactly like a male fashion model, which was unsurprising, as he had been given the clothing after instructing Noir to give him a fashionable, modern outfit. Scorpan found these unfamiliar items strange and uncomfortable, though he decided that he could get used to them.

"We have come, as you have commanded, My Lord," Noir said deferentially. "What is your will, o great Prince?"

"Rise," Scorpan replied casually. Once his disciples were standing again, Scorpan said, "I have summoned all of you here to entrust you with a task, as you have shown me immesurable loyalty, and have therefore earned my complete trust in doing so. Before I describe this task, however, I must ask if any of you were involved in my release; if so, I wish to personally thank and reward you."

Noir shook his head. "I'm afraid not, My Lord," he replied. "Though we tried to find a way to release you with all the effort we could muster, we could not find a way to do so, and we must confess that it was someone else who was responsible for granting your freedom."

"Hmm," Scorpan said. "Very well. If ever I should meet them, then, I will reward them most handsomely for their service. However, at this time, we must concern ourselves only with what we ought to do now that my reign can resume. Here is what we must do: we must build a new empire, built upon complete freedom and the Truth."

Scorpan softly smiled at his disciples, who placed their hands over their hearts as they shoutingly recited, "The way of the world is the path of nature! The law of the jungle is the contest of life! The strong triumph over the weak, and take what they desire! Strength is power! Laws are slavery! Mercy is weakness! Gods and men are supreme! Be free as the wind, and go and do as you will, as a bolt of lightning! This is the Truth, revealed to us by Scorpan, Lord of the Heavens!"

Scorpan smilingly nodded. "Exactly the same as I have written," he said. "Indeed, we shall build an empire without laws, mercy, or weakness, where we can be free to do as we will and take all we are entitled to."

Scorpan's followers cheered; however, Noir frowned at him as he asked, "Forgive me, My Lord, but how do you intend to build this empire? After all, we are watched at all times by Celestia, that Queen of Weakness."

Scorpan nodded. "That is true," he replied. "I must confess that I did not anticipate how weak she was; when my elder sister promised to imprison me forever in Tartarus, I regarded it as an idle threat, as women are wont to make. However, her childish affection for mortals exceeded my expectations, and she was able to use her feminine charms to lure me into entrapment. However, I assure you it will not happen again."

Noir nodded. "Of course not, My Lord," he said. "However, the fact remains that Celestia will dog you restlessly should you offend her sentimental decree again."

"That is true," Scorpan said. "However, my student, you must remember that her foolish law is founded upon her womanly weakness, and that same weakness that drove her to betray me can be turned against her, so that she will dare not to hound us any longer."

Noir smiled as his eyes narrowed with malicious excitement. "How so, My Lord?" he said.

"In the Old Times," Scorpan said, "when I was still Prince of Asgard, I found that whenever I took a young mortal Being, their mothers would beg and plead for me to release them. Naturally, I refused, and did as I pleased to these mothers' children. Once I had no more use for them and made to dispose of them, however, their mothers again begged and pleaded with me, this time to spare their lives. They offered me anything I desired to stay my hand; their possessions, the fruits of their labors, and even their own bodies." Here Scorpan made a wide, cruel smile. "The dared not to defy me, and were utterly complacent with any demands I made of them. That is the secret to building our new kingdom, my desciples; if we can hold the lives of my sister's subjects' children in our hands, they will bend to our every will."