Chapter 55. The Pecking order.

Despite the success of his mission so far, Nalec didn't feel like a man on the rise.

He didn't feel properly respected.

The glorious assignment he'd been given to infiltrate and slowly subvert the leadership of the Eastern temple was going swimmingly so far. Under the very eyes of their enemies, he coordinated each of his carefully planned ambushes with Lady Eris to discretely replace each of their victims who were members of the temple leadership, with much-improved Nu-human replacements that possessed the memories and personalities of their former selves, but with one major difference.

The Nu-life were no longer slaves to the foolish beliefs that plagued their predecessors. They were free of misguided attachments to anything other than their absolute devotion to their creator. This included family, morality, and their silly religious superstitions. As superior beings they knew the real truth of all things. They were destined to become the masters of this world and as such, they only worshipped one true god.

And her name was Everly.

Everly was greater than the sun, the moon, the very stars themselves! Her magnificence was unmatched. All who beheld her were forever blessed. All who stood in her presence knew rapture. Nalec dearly wished to return to her side once more and drink in the sight of her incomparable beauty. He wished only to be seen and acknowledged by his creator as her favorite child. Everything he did, he did for the love of Everly.

But lately, she hadn't seen fit to speak with him.

Her absence was painful to him.

"Will Everly see me today?" he asked Lady Eris as she finished preparing the artificial mind of the nu-human that would replace their latest victim. "Thanks to me, we've taken over the vast majority of the temple's administration. With but a word, I could overthrow Sylvain and see our goddess installed as the true saint of this era! Wouldn't Everly enjoy that? She would, wouldn't she?"

"Nalec, I've already explained this to you. Everly is busy right now. She wishes to see no one," Eris replied with exaggerated patience.

"Why won't she say that to me, herself?" Nalec asked her. "I've done such great work for her! It hasn't been easy but look at the results! Look at the success I've reaped! Surely Everly would want to hear of this from me personally?"

"She's busy, Nalec. Leave it at that and stop pestering me over it," Eris said firmly.

"I only want to please her," Nalec said sullenly. "Why won't she let me please her? She won't even let me return to the memory palace. What have I done wrong? I want to see Everly! I WANT TO SEE EVERLY!"

"Nalec, stop," said an older man's voice. One that oozed strength and authority. A voice that Nalec despised hearing.

"Lord Grail," Nalec said unpleasantly. "While I'm touched that you've decided to stop by and provide your unnecessary oversight of my work, I assure you that as the first and greatest of the nu-humans, I require no supervision."

"Inheritors," Grail said casually, as he inspected Nalec's quarters.

"Excuse me?" Nalec asked.

"Our name. We're called the Inheritors now. The new breed of humanity who shall inherit this world. It's a name I came up with personally. I ran it by Everly, and she agreed that it sounded a lot better than nu-humans. The old name sounded far too much like a rebranding of a carbonated beverage, didn't it?"

"But I was the one who came up with nu-humans!"

"Ah," Grail said. "Well, that might explain why she hated it so much. I was the first, by the way."

"W-what?" asked Nalec in confusion.

"The first Inheritor. I was the first artificial mind that Everly ever created. I preceded your existence by fifteen years, kid. I'm also the most powerful of our kind. Unless our Empress decided to also share her ability to raise the dead with…you?"

Nalek stared, flabbergasted. Grail could raise the dead like Everly? She'd chosen to imbue him with such an amazing gift?

Why him and not Nalec?!

For a moment, he couldn't speak; his words were silenced by resentment and envy.

"Oh, so she didn't?" Grail asked with mock surprise. "Well, then I would assume that means you hold far less authority than Lady Eris or myself. In which case, you need to remember your place, boy, and stop yelping like an unhappy puppy just because our mistress has better things to do with her time than break bread with the rank and file. Wouldn't you agree?"

As he spoke, Grail stepped into Nalec's personal space and loomed over him, making the younger man feel like a child whose behavior had disappointed his father. When Grail reached forth a hand and placed it on his shoulder, Nalec trembled at the contact. Whether from anger or fear, he couldn't say.

"However, on Everly's behalf, let me just say that I think you're doing a good job. Keep it up," Grail told him with a smile.

A few moments later, after Eris finished her task, she and Grail returned to the tower, leaving Nalec and the newly created inheritor, Lord Wembly, alone in his quarters. Nalec sent his new brother on his way, then sat on his bed to fume at the humiliation he'd just suffered. He clenched his fists in anger, unable to process how one such as he could be so easily rebuked and dismissed.

Damn that old man! That arrogant, condescending bastard!

Oh, how Nalec hated him!

The pressure that came with being unable to see his beloved maker and having to kowtow before the loathsome Grail; of being looked upon as a mere underling, was too much. Something within him would soon burst! Of course, the worst indignity of all was his current relationship with Lady Sylvain, the head of the eastern temple.

If things stood as they were, she was going to break him.

His every moment with that woman had become an incremental descent into Hell itself.

It was his fault, really. He was the one who decided their relationship should become romantic. Making her dependent on him would make his job much easier. So, he'd begun discreetly courting Lady Sylvain, hoping to capture her heart and make it easier to manipulate her. And his plan had succeeded! Perfectly!

…Far too perfectly.

It was the sex. He simply hadn't expected all the sex. He thought this would be a celibate affair, a platonic romance of the mind. After all, despite how beautiful she was, Lady Sylvain was the head of a religious organization and was venerated as a model of purity and restraint. There was no way someone like her would ever indulge in anything as venal as sexual congress. Her desires would surely be entirely spiritual in nature.

Nalec had been wrong. He'd been completely wrong!

Shortly after the second meal they'd shared together in her quarters, as Nalec had begun to take his leave, Sylvain stopped him at the door and kissed him. It hadn't been unpleasant. Sure, it was nothing compared to what one of Everly's would have felt like, but it wasn't completely horrible either.

"Well, that was a delightful surprise," he said to her. "What a wonderful way to conclude the evening."

"My dear squire," Sylvain said breathily into his ear. "For us, the evening has just begun."

Before Nalec could grasp her meaning, Sylvain's hand reached down and grasped…him.

"Uhhhh," he stammered.

What followed next was an onslaught.

Pure carnage.

Warfare in its most primal form.

One-on-one combat.

It hadn't occurred to Nalec that the primary reason for Lady Sylvain's chastity was due to her inability to find someone who could keep up the pace with her. She was of elven blood. Their stamina and durability were legendary. Ordinary mortals just couldn't keep up with their needs. To avoid the frustration of being constantly disappointed, Sylvain simply abstained from the act of physical love.

But that didn't make her invulnerable to being courted and pursued. Over her long centuries of life, she'd let her resolve lapse, only to be reminded once more that these human men just didn't have the drive necessary to get her where she wanted to go. So, she'd once again swear sex off, only to make the same mistake a few decades later.

Her libido had become an unending cycle of frustration.

However, she'd now accidentally made a discovery that forever transformed her lonely nights. The man she believed to be Alec, her squire, and latest romantic pursuer, could not only ride her into blissful completion…he could do it repeatedly! He might even possess more stamina than she did.

She couldn't get enough of him!

Lady Sylvain had become insatiable.

Nalec wondered if it was possibly to wilt into nonexistence from embarrassment, like a flower exposed to the unrelenting desert sun.

Their relationship had devolved into a series of increasingly deranged experiments that should have been banned legally across the world. Most of it was definitely prohibited by the teachings of her temple, not that Sylvain seemed to care. Due to her relative inexperience, there were a lot of things that Sylvain had read and fantasized about over the years but had never dared hope she'd get to personally attempt.

But with "Alec," she could finally let her curiosity soar! Her needs were as endless as the degradation Nalec had begun to feel at the conclusion of their every sordid tryst.

Naturally, his stamina came from being one of Everly's creations. His body was a precisely engineered instrument of battle that made him superior to a thousand ordinary men. As an…inheritor, as Grail had termed it, Nalec easily stood above the rabble of timid mortal scum. Comparison to them was no comparison at all.

And yet, he'd now been reduced to the role of a deviant church girl's object of lust.

From a war god to a plaything in mere weeks.

"My body belongs to Everly!" he once sobbed to himself as he huddled in a corner of his room.

Another growing problem was that he was really getting into it. Despite his contempt for Sylvain's sickening urges and endless demands of his body, he'd begun discreetly doing a little research of his own. As an intellectual pursuit! And also because some of what they were doing was so debased that it had become pretty fun.

But Nalec wasn't supposed to be having fun with Sylvain. He was for Everly! Everly alone! Everly always! There could be no conflict! None! Never!

He would have to resist Sylvain. Set boundaries. Establish parameters.

He would say NO.

FIRMLY!

The door to his quarters opened and a familiar voice now heavy with need murmured, "Alec…"

Goddamn it, he thought miserably to himself.

Oh, well, nothing to be done about it. Such was the life of an undercover operator!

Whistling to himself, Nalec reached beneath his bed to pull out his leather harness and her favorite cat-o-nine, while Sylvain patiently waited.

==

"I didn't need your assistance putting Nalec in his place," Eris said to Grail as soon as they rematerialized in the memory palace. "That little fool is no threat to me."

"I know that," Grail said mildly in reply. "I merely took a moment to establish a firmer set of boundaries with the boy. Nalec is a rambunctious little thing. I've had students like him before. They can't really thrive unless they truly know their place in the hierarchy. So, it was more for his benefit than yours."

"I could have shown him that, easily," Eris sneered.

"No, you would have tormented him mentally and possibly damaged him in the process. Despite being an arrogant fool, Nalec is performing a valuable service for us. A bloodless coup is an invaluable victory for our mistress."

Eris snorted. "Bloodless, you say? We've killed every single one of those worms we've replaced."

"Temporarily, yes," Grail agreed. "But with Titania's gift, we've brought them back from death remade into something better than they could have ever hoped to become in their former existence. In a way, we're brought them the rebirth they've always yearned for in prayer. Is that really murder or…ascendance?"

Eris was impressed by Grail's words despite her natural inclination to disagree with him about everything. She hated to admit it, but as much as she despised Grail, in recent times she'd begun to understand why Everly insisted on bringing him into their circle. He was strong and forward-thinking, and unafraid to express his opinions. Eris now recognized these as desirable traits. Traits that she wished she herself possessed.

He was a fascinating man.

Had he always been like that? Or had she been blind to these admirable characteristics?

"What?" he said irritably.

"Huh?" Eris said.

"You've been staring at me blankly for nearly a minute. What are you plotting now?"

"P-perhaps I'm considering how to best flay your mind so that you eventually realize your place and keep your unwarranted opinions to yourself!" Eris sputtered, annoyed by him now for reasons she didn't quite understand.

"Ah. Try it and see how far you get," Grail warned her with a scowl before stalking away to his quarters.

The nerve of that mortal fool! What gave him the right to speak thusly to her? Eris was a veritable goddess of the mind. No, the soul. No one could withstand her. The torment and horror she could unleash upon those who angered her…well, they weren't legendary because no one knew about her yet, but they would be!

Grail was too arrogant. Too confident. Too smug and... handsome. Not that she cared about outward appearances. She was a creature of the mind! No, it was clear now that she'd soon have to take him in hand and show him who Everly's most faithful servant truly was. No matter how much he resisted.

That'd show him!

Heh, he'd be so angry. She could already imagine his face darkening with fury once he realized he could never surpass her. It would serve him right.

With that in mind, Eris decided to go visit the rat room and indulge in a little fun for herself.

She hummed as she walked.