#aasgo

... @hoodnot

Aasgo did not have many expectations for that afternoon. He’d listen to the sounds of the storm outside while reading one of his many tomes on forbidden dark magic. He’d have Saymore, his golem fetch him more of those tasty Dorito things and summon his two newest fighters into the room and watch them argue and possibly beat each other up (because live entertainment is a hard thing to pass up). 

But instead, he watched as his newest fighter, Cici, the blind cyclops, frantically dashed around a room, tripping over furniture, smacking into walls and basically being the opposite of a skilled stealth killer like he knew her to be thorough his crystal ball, his crystal golem glowing a yellow green color with concern.

He’d heard random thudding for a bit and at first he thought it was some other hero trying to try to take him down, only for him to hear his second newest fighter Hearye, the deaf knight, shout, “WHAT ON EARTH?!” 

Then he pulled out the crystal ball and decided that watching some live entertainment like this was okay too.

“FOR GOODNESS SAKES, WOMAN!” Hearye bellowed as he grabbed her arm, stopping her from slamming herself into another wall, “WHY ARE YOU CAUSING SUCH A RUCKUS AND SLAMMING INTO EVERYTHING, ARE YOU BLIND?!”

“YES!” she shouted back,obviously irritated by the question, “I TOLD YOU THIS EARLIER, ARE YOU DEAF?”

“WHAT?” He cried, “I CAN’T HEAR YOU, I’M DEAF!”

“You’re both idiots.” He groaned with a gnarled hand to the opening in his hood. Saymore hovered above him, ever silent, but ever obvious in his body language in his desire to go to them and break them up.

“Give them a moment.” He instructed, Saymore’s crystal head bobbed in understanding as they continued to watch. Cici pouted at Hearye, well, she could have been scowling, but her one eye was covered in bandages as always and it was difficult to tell sometimes... Also it had been awhile since he last had to decipher the facial expressions of one eyed creatures... well, other than their pained and tortured expressions anyway...

Not that Hearye seemed to notice, Aasgo didn’t need to be as powerful as he was to know that underneath that helmet and armor was a young man who was very dense. It would take some serious strikes to get through that thick skull.

Just as he thought that, Cici whammed her fist into Hearye’s helmet, “LET GO OF ME! I NEED TO GET TO THAT BABY!!” She cried as she struggled to pull herself free of his grip as he staggered, a bit dizzy from the impact of the blow to his helmet.

“Baby?” Aasgo repeated. gently tapping on his crystal ball to silence the exchange between his two idiots and listened carefully, his otherworldy powers allowing him to hear all over his castle...

When he heard an infant’s cry by the front door. How by the many hells and heavens did he miss that? 

Aasgo hissed out some ancient swears and told Saymore to, “Separate the fools, I will attend to the baby.” 

Saymore’s floating crystal head bobbed again as his massive crystal body flew out of the room.

Aasgo quickly murmured an old spell and appeared at his front door to see a wet infant howling in the blankets and the basket left on his doorstep... a line of ancient dark magic connecting him with the crying child. 

“Oh...” he murmured, almost amused, “What do we have here?” He asked as he carefully picked up the baby from it’s little nest, the little one wiggling from cold, hunger and discomfort in his arms as he inspected the magic bond between them.

Their lives, their lifeforces and their very souls were connected by this magic and it didn’t take much to realize why this connection was there and why some fool had left the baby on his doorstep. 

They had done this to kill him. They had connected his lifeforce to this baby’s to try and kill him, only to chicken out and leave the helpless creature at his door, hoping he’d simply off the baby and himself.

Ha! The fools...

Did they really think he wouldn’t notice the powerful magic they had used? That he would chose to end her and his own life so foolishly? 

No. No, those pathetic ‘heroes’ had just left a chance at immortality on his doorstep and he wasn’t going to simply pass that up! He would care for and raise the child. Maybe he could raise her to aid him in his usual duties of spreading chaos, madness, death and destruction. That would be fun. Nice Daddy-daughter bonding.

He pulled the baby closer and watched as the basket sunk into a dark portal to an empty bedroom. He’d have the two idiots set it up for the baby later. He then walked back into the house and made his way to the kitchen to make her something to eat and dry it off a bit. He’d need blankets and clothes for her, but one thing at a time. He gently bounced the infant in his arms, cooing, “There, there, I know, I know, those people were dreadful. Binding an innocent little soul like you to a creature like me. But don’t you worry. We’ll have so much fun making them suffer, it will make up for all the discomfort they put you through!” The baby started to calm down a bit as she clung to him, Aasgo noticing that the baby’s eyes and hair were completely black, revealing the connection to him so clearly that he seriously had no idea how they would think he wouldn’t notice...

He stopped in a doorway where Saymore was steadying Hearye with one arm and holding a bloody Cici back by pressing her against his body with his other arm, “Saymore! I need to help that baby! The poor thing could die if they stay there for too long!” she cried as she struggled to free herself.

“The baby is fine, Cici.” Aasgo said, still bouncing the baby.

“Milord!” she cried, almost in tears with joy, “Thank you so much!” 

“WHY IS THERE A BABY IN THE HOUSE?!” Hearye asked.

He smiled under his cloak as the baby began to make contented noises in his arms and several letters appeared on the wall, spelling out an explanation for his knight to shout out for Cici to understand as Saymore began to glow a blood red.

“THEY BONDED YOUR LIVEFORCE TO THIS BABY’S AND LEFT HER OUTSIDE THINKING YOU WOULD KILL HER?” He bellowed, his voice furious and even louder than normal.

“THEY WHAT?!” Cici blurted, outraged.

“WHAT?” Hearye said, not knowing what words just came out of her mouth, but knowing she said something because her lips moved. He could read lips a bit, but he had totally missed hers moving until the last second.

“Calm yourselves.” Aasgo ordered, the three wincing at the command, but obeyed.

“We will handle it in due time,” Aasgo told them, a new message appearing behind him, relaying the words as he spoke “But for now, I need the both of you,” He pointed to Cici and Hearye, “to set up a room for her.”

The two nodded vigorously and Hearye led the way to the rooms, grabbing the cyclop’s hand as he did so, “GOOD THING I MADE PLENTY OF QUILTS!” He shouted. Cici right behind him blurting out, “Wait! We need to make a crib first!” as they turned around the bend of a spiral staircase, their shouting echoing off of the stone of the castle walls before another pound of a fist against metal was heard.

“Saymore, would you mind making some warm milk for the child?” He asked his golem, who shined a bright giddy pink and zoomed towards the kitchen, eager to please.

Aasgo looked down at the little one in his arms, “I think you’ll do just fine here.” he purred as he bounced her again, getting a little laugh this time.

I OWN NOTHING BUT THE BLIND AND DEAF IDIOTS AND THE PILE OF LIGHT UP CRYSTAL!!

@hoodnot I tried my best, Armor and weapons are not my strong suit... 

I dunno if Cici or Hearye are technically allies or his followers, but since Cici doesn’t exactly show off her blind eye, often using bandages (i had them rip off for comical effect, but yeah, she always hides her eye) or an eye mask or her hair or whatever she can get her hands on to cover it up. And Hearye is a weirdo who is pretty much never seen without his armor. So no one can see for sure or not if they are followers or not. If they are, they were probably about ten times more loud and crazy before he added them to his roster. 

I almost feel sorry for Aasgo if that is the case... almost.

Saymore is a crystal golem made by Aasgo, so it’s kinda gonna follow his orders anyway. It doesn’t need to be made into a follower or a servant, it will most likely kinda just die the moment he dies anyways since Aasgo made it. Either that or Saymore would wander the planet until the leftover magic Aasgo left in it runs out. Then it’ll die. Either way, Aasgo’s death = Saymore’s death, so it’s not all that different from being a follower.

The last thing Dahlia remembered as she slowly returned to the waking world was pleading on her hands and knees for the most ruthless creature to ever exist to allow her to enter his service to care for the Darkbound child, telling him that she didn’t care about the consequences, that she only wanted to care for the child.

The hooded figure rubbed a long, gnarled finger by the bottom of the opening of his cloak before his cold voice replied, “Very well.” 

She then felt pain and the smell of decay overwhelm her senses until the world went completely black.

When she finally opened her eyes (which felt so odd to her right now in ways she couldn’t even comprehend at the moment) she found herself in a modest bedroom, a strange woman sitting on a small rug on the floor, carving something, only to stop and turn to look at her... err, maybe she was, the woman’s eyes were bandaged to a degree that it was difficult to tell.

“Good, yer awake.” She said cheerfully from her spot on the rug, “Have ta say, ’m impressed, most people who are accepted inta Milord’s service are usually out fer a fortnight ‘fore they wake up!” 

“A fortnight?” She repeated, shocked, “How long was I...”

“Four days! You nearly beat the record!” The woman said cheerfully as she put the knife into a sheathe and slipped it onto her belt and pocketed the item she was carving to walk over and stand by the edge of the bed, “’M Cici, Milord’s Head Hunter ‘n Archer! To what service have you pledged?” 

Cici.

As in, the bloodthirsty hunter? The one who killed a nation’s army with nothing but twelve arrows while blindfolded? The Ice Cold Killer who showed no emotion while fighting?

This chipper lass was that Cici?

“I... I am Dahlia, I pledged to care for the Darkbound child.” She told her.

“Really?” She said, surprised, “Everyone else who’s come ‘round since we got ‘er have been tryin’ ta off ‘er!” She pouted and let her head droop a bit as she murmured, “Poor lil’ thing, never did nothin’ ta hurt no one...” 

“Yes, that’s one of the reasons I decided to come here, the poor thing has no way to defend herself and needs a lot of tender care.” Dahlia explained, Cici’s smile returning and her head popping back up as she blurted, “Exactly! ‘M so glad someone else ‘round ‘ere ‘sides Milord ‘n Saymore get tha’! I mean, don’ get me wrong, as skilled as most of th’ others ‘ere are, they don’ know nothin’ ‘bout babies! I have to tell them how to do everything, change diapers, feed ‘er, burp ‘er... Loike, I wouldn’ be surprised if they thought babies jus’ magically appear on the doorstep!” she paused, “Although, apparently the way the young Miss came ‘ere probl’y didn’ help with tha’ much... Not tha’ I saw tha’ meself...”

“Oh, and why is that?” Dahlia asked.

“I’m blind.” Cici told her, “Born tha’ way. The other cyclops thought it was a bad sign, but my species was nevah good at fortune tellin’.” She then leaned in conspiritorially and whispered, “Ta be honest, no cyclops is good at fortune tellin’, tha’ requires two eyes at least. So if any one of ‘um tries ta tell them otherwise, they’re full of it, stick a sword in ‘um ‘n run.”

“You’re a cyclops?” She blurted.

“Tha’s what yer surprised ‘bout?” Cici replied, surprised.

“Well, I’ve never met a cyclops before, so...”

“Nah, I don’ mean it loike tha’, I mean, yer not freakin’ out ‘bout me bein’ blind.” She said, “Most folks do, ya know?”

“Blindness is common enough if you pay attention.” Dahlia said simply.

“EXACTLY!” Cici blurted, smiling broadly as she patted her hands up the bed to try to locate where she was exactly before grabbing at her hands, “Oh, this is goin’ ta be great! I was already excited ta hear tha’ another lady would be livin’ ‘ere with us, but yer already bettah than I hoped!”

“Really? They’re aren’t other ladies here?” 

“Most of the ones who pledged ta Milord either work outside the castle sucking out souls and tempting mortals to their neverending doom, ya know, the usual succubus stuff, or jus’ live in the dungeons ‘n never come out. Hackin’ off limbs ‘n chowin’ down on ‘um...” Cici said dismissively, “Not really ones ta chat with a ‘lower’ monster like me...” 

Cici paused and let out an excited gasp before she began bouncing on her toes, “You, me ‘n the little Miss can go out fer a girl’s night! Aftah you’ve recovered, I mean. We can buy new weapons, eat tasty sweets and, Ohhh!! We can find soft toys for the little Miss!” she squealed.

“When I’ve recovered?”

“Well, yeah, ya pledged service ta Milord. Yer one of his followers now and it takes time ta get used ta it...” Cici explained before turning her head back and forth, as if searching for something, “Milord said it would be easier ta see it ‘n had Hearye bring in a mirror when Saymore brought some food up for us a little while ago...” 

Hearye... Hearye the dark knight who had slaughtered the strongest heroes sent to fight the monster in charge of this castle with only a single swing of his sword? Hearye the knight who has taken armies without taking a single hit and coating his armor in blood? 

And Saymore. SAYMORE. The first bloody nightmare to come out of this castle? The one who rewrote maps in the blood of the people it killed? The one who destroyed entire landmasses to ensure it’s master would be feared and obeyed? THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN TERRORIZING THE MASSES FOR CENTURIES?!?!

Those two had been in her room? As terrifying as the idea of that should of been, she barely felt a shiver down her spine or goosebumps begin to form on her flesh. 

She hardly felt anything about two well known monsters known for mass murder and destruction being so close to her as she lay at her weakest and most vulnerable... 

Something was very wrong with this. Fear and terror should be screaming out of her pores like sweat, but she hardly felt anything.

Cici released her hands and held her arms out, as if they were a scale and pouted thoughtfully as she spoke, as if she was reciting something from memory, “There are two nightstands by the bed. Whichever one doesn’t have a tray on it has a mirror. She will fully understand her fate when she looks into it, but you may want to cover your ears, Cici, she might scream...” the cyclops then pulled her arms back towards her chest, “Oh, right!” before covering her ears and saying, “Okay, you can look now!”

Dahlia glanced to the night stands on either side of her, one held a covered tray and the other had a mirror with a beautifully carved handle.

She reached for it with a trembling hand, her body far weaker than she recalled being before hand, a hollow feeling inside her chest, as if a part of her had been ripped out... She picked up the mirror and despite the horror of the situation beginning to dawn on her, she still hardly felt any fear as she held up the mirror and finally saw what Cici had been talking about. 

‘You are mine now. A toy which I can play with at any time.’ The Warlock’s icy voice informed her, ‘Luckily for you, I’ve decided you shall be a follower, so you still have your personality and can still feel emotions. Your emotions should come back to you soon, they won’t be as powerful as they once were, and your personality shall be... let’s say ‘numbed’. 

But heed these words;

The moment I decide you are no longer useful, I will stop giving you my magic and you will die.

Do you understand?’

She nodded, then looked away from the mirror and patted Cici’s arm, the girl smiling, “Oh good, ya didn’ scream, I thought for a moment there ya would. Anyways, I’ll let the others know yer awake, you should eat ‘n then get some rest, we’ll bring the crib in ‘ere once yer used ta bein’ a follower!” 

Cici then turned around and began walking towards the doorway.

“Cici?” Dahlia called.

“Yeah?” she said, turning her head a bit to face her.

“Are you a follower or...?” 

“Isn’ it obvious?” Cici asked, looking a bit put out.

Dahlia couldn’t see anything close to the proof she had witnessed moments ago, but instead of saying that, she simply said, “Ah, I see, how foolish of me.”

“Don’ worry ‘bout it!” Cici said warmly, “Me, Hearye ‘n Saymore get tha’ all the time!” She then turned her head back around and walked through the doorway out of the room.

Dahlia was unsure of how her time there would go, but there was one thing she was certain of;

Her time here would definitely not be dull.

Dahlia, Aasgo, Debbie (the baby) and Darkbound belong to @hoodnot

Cici, Hearye and Saymore (the three stooges over here) belong to me