Lilith: Origin of Succubi

<~> Chapter 200

"What happened at the library?" Morrigan asked. "I can fill Torien in later. We should still discuss things... right?"

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. "Right. The library. After the Head Librarian took me to her office she revealed that she was actually Sorsette. We talked at length about a number of topics but after everything she's shared with me I feel as though Sorsette is staunchly on my side."

Different looks of interest, disbelief, and surprise came over the room. Talis had a strange look on his face, brows furrowed and confused. Did he not actually know her true identity? Morrigan looked a mixture of excited and surprised and Lorriene only looked puzzled.

"This was never mentioned in any versions I've heard of the prophecy," Lorriene said. "We don't have a lot of details about what the second war will look like but none of them suggested that Sorsette would side with Lilith."

I nodded. "Sorsette told me that my actions have already deviated from what many have anticipated already, including her own expectations. Most will still think I'm a demon for a while longer and from what she told me, that should make a lot of my actions a lot harder to predict in general, even from the other gods." I decided to keep the simulation aspect to myself for now, I'm not sure how much of that would translate and I'd prefer not to get bogged down in the details yet. "She believes that the war of the gods is inevitable and my actions don't have any impact on whether or not it happens, only how it happens. Her ultimate goal is to protect herself and as much sapient life as she can, both through the second war and after it."

Lorriene rubbed her face and looked back up at me. "Okay then. Here's the most important question. What are you intending to do? At this point, I think that even the order of people who already worship you probably won't be able to predict this either."

I nodded. "Yeah. I want to know more about them too. Initially, I had thought that the Order of Lilith wouldn't be any different from the Cult of Amphores but now that I know that Silva has been a member of them this entire time I don't know what to think. Frankly, up until now, I haven't had any lofty ideas of what I would do. I only came here to learn cartography and deal with the fallout of destroying a dungeon. We only got wrapped up in all of this recently. I'm at a loss for what to do other than what I've been trying to do. Deal with the problems I have at the guild and find some clues about my past."

"What about slavery abolition?" Silva asked.

I sighed. "I don't know. I do want to support it but I'm not sure what I can do in particular. After seeing how large the slavery operation is in the capital, it will be difficult to do anything about it. Our group has gotten decently strong since we started but I'm not strong enough to have much impact against such a large organization."

Lorriene tapped the table slowly in thought. "Well, if you are interested in getting involved with abolishing slavery here in Torlimal, you could take control of the Order. There will be some like me who will have trouble believing your claims but from what you have shown me tonight I'm sure you would win most of them over in the end."

"What does the Order of Lilith even do?" I asked.

Silva cleared her throat. "Generally speaking we work to abolish slavery and assassinate anyone who stands too contrary to that goal. Where we can, we work in the light, like supporting Morrister and his family. Where we can't, we work in the dark, picking targets to disrupt the various forms of slave trade and murdering anyone especially disgusting. Aside from that, we collect outsiders, prostitutes, runaways, and anyone else who doesn't fit into society and try to help who we can while recruiting those we think will be helpful to our organization. This is done across the world, not just in this kingdom."

I suspected that her use of the world was more like known world rather than all-encompassing after my talk with Sorsette.

Lorriene spoke up after Silva finished. "We also fight with the Tamin church often, especially where they're left to their own devices. Truthfully, the way the Tamin church operates in this country is relatively tame compared to some other places. I'm not sure how things will shake out now that the king is dead but they're likely to try and fill the power vacuum that was left after his assassination." She glanced at Cecilia for a moment before continuing. "The elves of the Northern Green are likely to step in though, they're not the biggest fan of the Tamin church, to put it mildly."

I cleared my throat. "How so? Treat me as if I don't know my history." Because I don't.

Cecilia spoke up before Lorriene could continue. "To keep things simple, the elves of the Northern Greens sided with the tribes of Zarcuda that formed a combined army in the war against the Kingdom of Torlimal. Fifteen years ago, the Tamin church claimed a missionary was killed in territory that belongs to the Kronil clan. This likely did happen. The Kronil clan is a race of fierce beastfolk similar to pantharians but with orange and white fur with black stripes. They are incredibly territorial and are known for very specific rituals to be done before anyone can even enter their land. A Tamin missionary treading onto their land unannounced without partaking in these rituals would be asking for a swift death. The elven great houses confirmed the Tamin church's words were likely true but blamed their ignorance for the transgression. However, the Kingdom of Torlimal had furnished guards to the missionary group and referred to a non-aggression treaty that many of the border tribes had agreed to. Notably, the Kronil clan had not been included in this treaty. Regardless, the Kingdom of Torlimal still claimed that the tribes had broken their promise and dispatched a large army with the Tamin church to attack. They fought this war over ten years and finished with a new treaty around five years ago. The elves believe that this was a pretense to take civilians and enslave them to earn the Kingdom money which is why Selitraetilil, the Queen of the Northern Greens, sided with the tribes of Zarcuda and fought against the Kingdom of Torlimal in this war. The Tamin church also doesn't seem to like elves much in the first place but they're not as dismissive or rude to elves as they are to beastfolk."

"What happened to the slaves?" I asked, trying to keep the heat out of my voice.

Cecilia shook her head. "There are still many that had been taken in the war here in Torlimal but most of the ones being bought and sold now are second-generation or young third-generation slaves. For the record, this includes elves as well as beastfolk."

Morrigan took my hand, trying to quell my anger. I squeezed it gently and willed myself to calm down.

Lorriene cut in next, "The elves dislike most forms of slavery, they only participate in criminal slaves and some ritualistic stuff. The Order doesn't consider the Northern Greens to be a target so we don't operate there. Instead, we have some ties to a great house and use them to smuggle pantharians there whenever we come across them. That was what we were planning on doing with those two we learned about in the Slaver's guild."

"Do you normally go through the Embassy?" Cecilia asked her.

She shook her head. "No, we typically go near the border and meet an elf who takes them the rest of the way."

"What about us? Why didn't you take us to the elves?" Morrigan asked.

Lorriene frowned and suddenly deflated. "I really tried. Things never lined up right. It was like any time I started the plans, something would crop up that would ruin them. After I was sold off, I worked as an assassin for a noble before Sophin managed to trick the noble into selling me to him. It was cathartic to kill him after he had been using me as a weapon for so long. Sophin had come to recruit me, I accepted with the condition that he would help me track down the two of you. We had managed to track you all the way to the frontier but we weren't able to come pick you up before you were sold to someone else." She spared a glance at me. "We were just lucky that you were sold to Lilith of all people."

I sighed and cradled my face in my hands for a moment. When I sat back up everyone was looking at me with concern. "This brings up another thing I talked with Sorsette about... She was able to discover one of the three gods that were supporting the Tamin church."

Everyone's eyes went wide and I even heard a few gasps. Lorriene stood up and slammed her fists on the table. "You've waited until now to bring that up!?"

I almost snarled at her but I schooled my face before I lashed out. Tensions were high, it's not worth the fight. Taking a deep breath I looked up at her. "Sorsette told me that she found one of the three because she's been manipulating things around me for a while."

"Wait!" Talis stood up. "You cannot speak of this out loud. The only way uttering this information out loud would be safe is if you were being isolated using divine magic. Gods know if you speak or write their name, Lilith telling us would only invite the god in question to listen in. If I'm not mistaken, no one here is a priest or paladin?" He continued when everyone shook their head, "Then keep it to yourself for now." He turned to Lorriene. "Find a priest or paladin from a god you trust if you want this information as badly as I think you do."

Lorriene sat back down with a grumble, eyeing me. "Okay then, did Sorsette reveal which gods we can trust?"

I sighed. "I wish she would have warned me more explicitly about gods listening in. There are a few that have been ruled out but only one that can help us."

"What does that mean?" Lorriene grumbled again.

"Two of them don't have churches we could visit, and one is Sorsette herself, her priests apparently aren't able to power divine magic. That leaves Morkinnen as the only option."

"That makes sense," Silva said, and everyone else nodded in agreement.

Lorriene sighed and shook her head. "Setting that issue aside, there's also the issue of the Cult of Amphores. Silva kind of preempted their plans with the riots. Now that the King is dead the Tamin church is going to turn the city upside down trying to find them and they may retaliate. It was why I thought it was so important to leave the southern quarter."

"How do you know about that?" Talis asked. "Are you working with them after all?"

She scoffed in reply. "No way. Harming innocent people and putting slaves in a position to get themselves killed is not what our Order does. And, despite our target of worship," she said eyeing Lilith, "we do not summon demons... Well, not ones that aren't Lilith anyway."

My brows furrowed. "What do you mean by that?"

She shrugged. "There was this guy I knew who found a book he became obsessed with. A lesser noble that had helped us a few times. He had been searching for a 'site of power' where he could summon Lilith. We thought the guy was crazy and figured he would get himself killed but summoning demons was taboo, even for us, and he got kicked out for suggesting it. I haven't heard from him in a while so he's probably dead... one way or the other."

"God damn it." I groaned and leaned back in my chair. "I was summoned by a guy who cut his arm too deep and ended up killing himself. I woke up naked and all alone so I took his clothes and his money."

"You're not serious?" Silva asked. "You got summoned by Cliff?"

"Mimi, can I have my trunk please?"

"Sure." Mimi dropped my trunk next to my chair, I dug out the clothes I had retailored for myself and threw them on the table.

Lorriene started laughing. "No fuckin' way."

"Well... At least I didn't get summoned by a rich virgin who just wanted to fuck me..." I said exasperated.