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Either Good Goddess Lovewar wasn’t a friend anymore or couldn’t use her boon for him. He wanted to think it was the latter, but he wouldn’t be surprised if Lovewar was unhappy with him. At the very least, he knew of one goddess who would accept his call regardless.

The crystal ball turned shadowy. In its glassy surface, an oily liquid swirled before taking the shape of a feminine humanoid. There were no defining features, but Zarian knew he was looking at what Luciana wanted to show him.

She really liked to play the mystery card, even after they’d spent countless years together as a spreading darkness with an indestructible shadow.

“Luciana,” Zarian said, some emotion entering his voice.

“Zarian,” she said in return.

Her voice was magnetic, inviting, tragic, and shadowy. The way she uttered his name held as much familiarity as the death of countless worlds did, making it sound beautiful despite the horror.

Zarian licked his lips. “Who are you really?”

“Are you sure you’re ready to hear that?” she asked.

“Yes.” He needed to know. While he and Ariana were apocalyptic darknesses, Luciana had hitched a ride and stayed completely safe the whole time.

Luciana sighed deeply. “Then so be it. The truth of me is that I’m a young goddess, a sacrifice on the altar, a child whose destiny was decided years ago, a girl whose potential is already dead and fossilized, a woman who has but one duty.”

“What is that duty?” Even with free evil +3 active, Zarian felt a hint of worry gripping his heart. He wasn’t sure he was ready to hear the truth like he’d claimed.

Luciana chuckled darkly. She was enjoying this, no doubt. “I’m to be the strongest and most powerful of the Shadowfell Family, one who is foretold to usher a corruption that engulfs the hearts of all men in the shadow of sin. I am a most worthy possession, a prize to be sought and used. I am also a gift from my lineage, who are conquered servants to a greater and more powerful lineage.”

Zarian slowly shook his head. He wanted to tell Luciana to stop. He didn’t.

The can was already open.

The worms were wriggling free.

“Zarian, I am your promised wife, the future bearer of your children, a factory of flesh who’ll produce the most horrific monsters ever seen, all sired by you. This is the truth of my tragic existence, for I am the shadow of darkness. Isn’t that lovely, oh husband, oh master of mine?”

Zarian’s mind nearly collapsed from the marriage revelation. He couldn’t comprehend it personally.

His free evil +3 became too rabid, too merciless. He nearly reduced its power, but when his Fractured Mind struggled to support hundreds of skeletons scavenging around the battlefield, he kept free evil +3 fully powered.

He took a long time to sort himself out. A few hours went by in silence, and Luciana Shadowfell stayed on the other side of the crystal ball connection.

Para kept the glimmering leather cloak wrapped comfortably around him, less a dark display of might and more of a supportive measure for her host.

“Can we talk more about this another time?” Zarian asked.

“Your will is my command, husband,” Luciana said.

His stomach did flips. He felt revolted.

“My will is not your command. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you’re a whole ass evil goddess. You can’t just … bow to me.”

He wanted to counter her and the dark thoughts of his free evil +3. He knew how deeply depraved many people could be with this limitless power.

“I didn’t bow to you at first because I was waiting to see the truth of you as my husband. The truth has been revealed. You are my master husband, and I’m your servant wife. But if you wish for us to roleplay as if this is not the case, I can facilitate that for you.”

Zarian gritted his teeth. “I didn’t agree to marry you. We’re supposed to start off as friends! What happened to that?”

“Our lineage. Our family. Specifically, the great matriarchs. The matriarchs of mine kowtowed at the feet of your matriarchs. My matriarchs were taught a lesson. Your family is the strongest. To appease your matriarchs, I’ve been wedded to you with little ceremony.”

“No freaking way.”

Denial, denial, denial. Zarian was in denial.

Luciana laughed again, evil and witch-like. “If you don’t think that is true, then hear my full name. I am Luciana Shadowfell Darkrun, and I am your wife.”

Zarian reeled back.

He felt it.

The Darkrun name belonged to Luciana.

Everything she was saying was true.

Luciana was his wife.

He felt frustrated. Horrified. Disgusted. He knew there were more nuances to this situation than he could appreciate now. There were greater plans in motion than he understood.

But he was a Freedom Leader, and this went against freedom.

“Is my family forcing you to be a servant?” Zarian asked.

“Yes, and no,” Luciana said, cryptic as usual. “Yes, because your family is the most powerful. We must serve them in some capacity. However, it’s my family who wishes for me to serve you as if I’m an extra limb you can command, a slave of your whim. Your family is more cavalier about the arrangement. I suppose now that I have the Darkrun name, I could do things for myself.”

“Well, I would rather you choose to do what you want. Do you want a divorce?” he asked.

“No.”

Zarian was stumped.

Luciana chuckled softly, playfully, holding onto her shadowy nature. “You’ve carried me with you from one end of a universe to another end of a universe. I’ve witnessed such tragedies that I didn’t know were possible. I’m inspired by you.”

He didn’t like the sound of that. “Inspired how?”

“To be myself. To revel in the joy of shadows and corruption. Of heartache and tragedy. I don’t think I’ve done enough evil, honestly.”

Zarian opened and closed his mouth. He knew Luciana had acted as an indifferent young goddess, yet she had caused untold damage from merely crying.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

What would she be like if she were more active?

Especially when she was a Darkrun.

The goddess continued. “We are truly living in the Dark Era, aren’t we? Isn’t it my purpose to draw a shadow across the worlds and corrupt the weak, to truly challenge the would-be adventurers who wish to rise to the Adventurer King’s empty throne? Even thinking about it all makes me weep more tears than I’ve ever wept before.”

If it wasn’t for the scavenging and battlefield clean up, maybe Zarian would have enough room in his head to deal with this better. As of now, he was absolutely out of his element.

The consequences of his actions were growing bigger and bigger than he’d first appreciated. He would’ve been scared if it wasn’t for free evil +3 keeping him cold enough to focus on his objectives.

“Let’s put aside the family drama,” Zarian said. “I don’t have time for this mess.”

He did have time. He just didn’t want to think about the drama anymore, at least for now.

“How may I be of divine service, Zarian?” Luciana asked.

“Can you deliver boons?”

“Not directly to you. You’re a leader of a new alignment. It’s fresh. And very free from the influence of traditional good and evil. It’s more resilient than neutrality, that is certain.”

“What about the people under us? We don’t have them added to our freedom alignment yet, but we will soon.”

“Hm? Free good. Free evil. And free for real? I haven’t yet tested such an attempt to deliver boons to your sub-alignments, but I imagine it’ll be slippery and likely to fail.”

“Really?”

“Maybe. I am not sure yet. Your alignment is not as tangible compared to the old alignments. It would be better if you had devotees of mine who were strictly evil. If not, then those who are free evil will have to devote themselves to my altar freely while under your alignment.”

“Freedom is all about having a choice, so I don’t see an issue with that.”

“Hm, interesting and peculiar. This freedom of yours is against the established norms. Are you ready to defend it?”

“Hell yeah I am,” Zarian growled.

He was certain of that, at the very least.

“Well, then, if it’s okay with you, Zarian, I will poke and prod at this freedom of yours. There is quite a lot of potential for me to do my work against you. Is that okay?”

Zarian took a slow breath in and out. He was still reeling from hearing how much power he held over Luciana, his supposed wife.

If she was truly inspired to be an active goddess, then he could shut that down with a simple sentence. But that would go against everything Zarian was trying to do.

“It’ll have to be,” Zarian muttered.

People would die from this decision.

But Zarian had some principles. Having people work under him in a mutual transactional relationship worked for him. Hell, even doling out charities just to provide good vibes and uplift morality worked for him.

But having a whole ass goddess as his servant wife, a slave, and ordering her around to go against her nature disgusted him. Maybe that was the freedom alignment talking, but Zarian was pretty sure this was just who he was as a person.

Besides, he didn’t want to cheat the game too much.

Without challenge or effort, he wouldn’t learn to have proper control of his Overwhelming Darkness.

Luciana chuckled. “You are an interesting man. You have so much power at your fingertips, as if you’re the Adventurer King already. It will be fun seeing how you play this game. Don’t forget that as much as I can challenge, I can also provide support.”

Zarian nodded. “That leads to my next point. How’s Lovewar?”

“She is frightened of you. She came to me just recently, telling me the details of her death, and how hard she tried to fight your darkness.”

Luciana released another dark chortle, like she was enjoying gossip while eating the darkest chocolate delights with her coffee as black as oil. “Nothing she did could avert you. She was crushed and eaten. Her memory of that is not so easy for her to shake even as a goddess of love and war.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Zarian sighed heavily. “I imagine the same freedom measures apply to her. We’ll need someone outside of a leader to devote to her altar. Hopefully free good works well enough. If not, we’ll find someone traditionally good.”

“Yes, but she might need time to watch you before she becomes a present benefactor again. She’s not your enemy, far from it, but she’s … traumatized.” The hint of a grin appeared in Luciana’s voice. “I expect she will return to me and shed as many tears as needed. I never knew she could be broken. I feel we’re becoming even closer as friends thanks to you.”

“Luciana,” Zarian said.

“Yes, dear?”

“You’re one sick puppy.”

“Ah, but you see, I’m your sick puppy.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Will that be all, my dear? I’m feeling whimsical and spirited. Like never before. There’s much work to do, and I’m devoting much of my omniscience to you now. I will stay if you want me to.”

“Please, go do what wickedness you want. I’ll have altars made for you and Lovewar. And … maybe Hisscreep and Serveserf, if they want.”

“Hm, interesting, the old frail gods of the traditional alignments have taken some interest in you, haven’t they? I hear little complaints from them after the coming and going of your darkness, at least compared to the other gods and divine beings.”

“Is that so? I guess the old gods are better at bouncing back from huge setbacks,” Zarian said.

“Hm, perhaps so. I am sure there are ways to mend relations with those two. But that is for you to figure out, I suppose. Farewell for now, my indomitable dark husband.”

“Later, gator.”

The shadowy figure in the crystal ball faded off. The surface returned to its opaque nature. Zarian tossed it up and down before putting it away in the pocket dimension.

He wondered if he should ask for a divorce. What would happen to Luciana and her family if he did that? Luciana didn’t want a divorce, but he didn’t get a say in the matter.

“Funnest Granpapa? Will Luciana stay a Darkrun if I divorce her?” Zarian asked.

No response.

Zarian frowned. His family was a pain in the ass. He couldn’t act without getting more information. Or maybe he should just ignore it all and leave it as a problem to fix in the future.

That sounded preferable.

He did a quick check with each of his Floridians by sharing senses through mind spiders.

Everybody was fine, even Bianca. She was doing a bang-up job of maintaining her miniature sun above Fort Ride-or-Die, even without her free good +5.

Maybe Bianca could turn her trauma into a weapon and reforge herself.

It looked like Naomi and Gilbert were putting their heads together by doing the simplest thing, lifting the huge body of the wolf dragon. They were dragging it all the way toward the entrance.

Naomi used Psychokinesis +1 to stabilize the ground, granting them footing. That was a creative use of her ability, which had Zarian wondering how much further she could push herself in the next couple of months.

She still had a friendly rivalry with Bianca, didn’t she? They seemed closer now after recent events. The two of them together could really grow themselves to further heights.

He also wondered if Foodie would be okay with the delay back at Castle Grimrock. How much trouble would the Grimrock Warlock produce with the extra time? How much worse would Jack get?

“We’ll make preparations of our own,” Zarian said. “Isn’t that right, Para?”

“Yes!” she growled.

Her voice was clearer now. Still monstrous, but with more notable femininity and humanity. All her practice and fluency in languages was good for her. That and the Floridian Mindset buffed her considerably.

Zarian nodded. A curious thought struck him. He hesitated before letting his free evil +3 push him. He bothered the one person who probably didn’t want to talk to him.

“Hey, System, how bad are things?”

The Star System, the overseer of the Infinita Universe, replied with a blue notification.

<Bad.>

Zarian moved his head from side to side. He pushed a little more. “But how bad is bad?”

<Other Systems of different universes are highly displeased. There will be an increased presence of outsiders, more than what my parameters were made for. Additionally, the Infinita Star System may be drawn into certain conflicts. I’m trying my best to avoid the trouble of that. Further information is confidential, since nothing is established yet. However, if you feel you must abuse your power over me to learn more, please warn me before you do.>

“Uh, no, I’m thinking I really shouldn’t do that again. Just let me know if me and my people can help in any way.”

<I will take that into consideration. For now, focus on your own development. Here are some quests to keep you occupied and hopefully save Infinita from repeat destruction.>

The next notifications came out gold.

<Large events are at pause. The wolf kobolds, and their idols, the wolf dragons, are going to lick their wounds and recover themselves, but they won’t pose a great threat for now. This is the perfect time to develop yourself with these side quests.>

<Side Quest 2 (Divine): Don’t destroy the Infinita Star System! Again!>

<Side Quest 3 (Divine): Work on sealing your Overwhelming Darkness and training it safely. Become its master.>

<Side Quest 4 (Rare): Develop your community at the Ride-or-Die Fort.>

<Side Quest 5 (Epic): See your fellow Floridians grow stronger during this down period.>

<Side Quest 6 (Uncommon): Do nice things for the people who support you despite your issues.>

“Thanks, System. I appreciate the quests. I know we got off on the wrong foot but maybe we can do things better going forward.” Zarian tried to sound amicable.

The Star System didn’t respond.