A Different Kind of Despair
Formosa could see her just as
clearly as I did.
    "Lady Galatea was too precious to him -and of
a weak constitution," Formosa explained. "Thanos, while a brooding
character on all accounts, had silence as a defining
characteristic. Inval knew that if he told his pupil to take this
secret to his grave then he would."
    "Obviously he didn't," Marvin countered. "Not
if a whole House knew about it."
    "An order came with it," she
replied, her tone clipped. "Thanos would become the policing force
for all other Houses. When experiments go awry, when necromancers
go mad from grief, when toxic environs are created as a result of
careless hands and idiotic blunders, Thanos and all members of his
House were called to remedy the situation. We are the only ones permitted to
kill our own; the judge, jury, and executioners of
Nethermountain."
    "That still tells us nothing on why Inval
knowingly consorted with a demon," I stated.
    "It s known that the Crone of Astheneia was
already living in Nethermountain when Inval struck a deal with her
to settle here," Formosa explained. "Marvin, what does that tell
you?"
    Marvin blinked slowly.
    "I can't believe I didn't see it."
    "See what?" I quizzed.
    "It's basic lore," he said, turning to me.
"Everyone knows Inval struck a deal with the Crone to share
Nethermountain. If he knew she was a demon from that point then he
must've entered a Contract with her. We already know that he did
something to rile the demons -that's probably where it all
started." He glanced back as his mother. "Did Inval tell Thanos
what he promised the Crone in exchange for living here?"
    Formosa nodded solemnly.
    "In exchange for the Crone's hospitality and
guidance, Inval swore to resurrect Ayasha."
    Ayasha?
    Inval lived hundreds of years ago. Ayasha was
the Womb of the World, ancient and unfathomable and-
    "-how?!" I demanded. "What was his relation to
Ayasha?"
    "Of what little we know?" Formosa asked. "It's
uncertain, but it comes down to two possibilities. The first being
that Inval was favored by her; the second, he was infatuated. The
Tribes were only just begun; it is more than possible Inval was
descended from them."
    "He didn't," Diana disagreed. "Inval told me
he hailed from the swampland to the southeast."
    "It doesn't matter where he came
from or even what his relation was to Ayasha," Formosa snapped.
"Not in these circumstances at least. The Crone has barred all
other necromancers in the halls of House Astheneia. She revealed
her true nature and threatened to slaughter them all if they didn't
order their undead to search Nethermountain and bring Marvin back
to her."
    She glanced at her son.
    "It's fortunate you didn't make a grand
entrance. I only wish you'd sought me out first; I knew she was
plotting something since she retrieved the Eyes of the Leviathan
from Leo in your stead."
    Marvin sighed.
    Something was missing in all of
this.
    "...if hardly anyone knew, then how was the
Crone alerted?" I asked.
    Everyone looked at me.
    "Koronos," I answered my own question a moment
later. "Koronos lured me to the attic to talk to Diana, enough time
to leave Marvin unprotected."
    Marvin frowned at me. "What did I say about
talking to him?"
    "He tricked me!"
    "He played on your emotions and you gave in to
the temptation."
    "Silence!" Formosa yelled at him, slicing her
hand through the air. "Koronos? A second demon? Explain this to me
first."
    Marvin lifted the hem of his pants, exposing
his skeletal shins.
    "I accidentally made a deal with him," he
explained sheepishly. "If I could turn Diana human again then he'd
become my servant until I died. I transferred her Doll Contract
onto me and had Will amputate the part of me that changed in order
to halt the process."
    It was comical to see Formosa's sour veneer
crumble into an awed concern -suggesting that she cared more for
her son than she was willing to admit.
    "Then why is Diana dead?"
    He flinched.
    Diana's ghost also sagged behind him, so close
it was almost laughable, but

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