The Court of Souls?

“According to Zohar and the Alphabet of Ben Sira, Lilith was Adam's first wife who later became a succubus. She left Adam and refused to return to the Garden of Eden after she mated with archangel Samael. In Zoharistic Kabbalah, there were four succubi who mated with the archangel Samael. There were four original queens of the demons: Lilith, Mahalath, Agrat Bat Mahlat, and Naamah. A succubus may take a form of a beautiful young girl but closer inspection may reveal deformities upon their bodies, such as bird-like claws or serpentine tails.”

- The Journey to the Afterlife

***Dedessia, the Sea of Souls, Clan: Carissimi***

***Elona, 7 years old***

Picture, picture. Scar here, scar there, criss la cross, no, there has to be a strand of hair added here. I bite my lower lip, trying to draw Doreen's face as detailed as possible. My trusty block with waxed paper and the pen are a big help. I've taken a liking to this exercise.

“Elona, are you listening?” Doreen uses her pointer to knock on the table.

I look up and use by best innocent face in hope to avoid punishment. Being instructed on a weekly basis by my grandmother changed my opinion of her. She is a bitter old hag who likes to hit children with her pointer. She even put me over her knee once and I couldn't sit properly for over a week afterwards. “I was painting you.”

I hold out the picture to show her. She studies my work for a few moments until she decides to give me her opinion of it. “The eyes are little too narrow-”

“I changed that on my own accord to make you look even more beautiful than you already are!” I flatter her.

Doreen raises her chin. “So you think that I am not perfect? Then what about not drawing my eyes properly?”

I look at the picture, baffled. “What about them? They are perfect, shape, position. All adds up.”

Doreen steps closer to let me have a really good look. “Then what about the blue pattern? You forgot it, didn't you?”

I feel pearls of sweat developing on my forehead. What to answer?

I forgot, will get me hit.

I didn't deem it necessary, will get me hit.

“I wanted to add that detail later on,” I answer with a straight face.

Doreen squints her eyes at me. “You are a good liar. In return I won't use full force.”

I got hit.

“So, now we can return to the matter at hand.” Doreen sets her pointer on the middle of the map which is filling out the left wall of her library. “We are here in the desert. From time to time our clan relocates when the climate gets particularly nasty. The number of people in Carissimi varies between four and five-thousand. Though I try to keep it at the lower end by restricting childbirth. The world tree sapling can't support much more people.”

I raise my swollen hand to get her attention. “What will we do with the sapling? You always mention that we have to relocate soon because the sapling can't pump up enough water for all of us. And why are we in the middle of this desert when the fringes are much more hospitable?”

“The sapling moves with us of course. I got my hands on it during my long journeys to explore Dedessia. The sapling is imbued and controlled by my will. If I wish it, the sapling uproots itself and walks somewhere else,” Doreen explains. Her face stayed completely straight while she explained. So she probably didn't lie to me.

Talk about wonderland.

“And we are living in the middle of this desert because most other clans can't or won't bother to attack us here. In addition there is much less dangerous wildlife if you overlook the shortage of water.”

“Why did you make your journey?” I ask, using the opportunity of having questions answered. Doreen isn't often in the right mood for this. Normally it is just 'shut up and listen'.

Doreen shakes her head with a tired expression. “Because I wanted to learn all there is to learn about Dedessia. I joined the Wanderers, a nomad-clan which survives by riding on huge leviathans from one safe zone to the next. Mostly they trade and transport goods and people between clans. If a clan lacks certain abilities they often buy members from other clans. One can't control what professions they get with their children. That's why slave trading is a common practice among the less civilised clans.”

“I travelled with the Wanderers to find a way to escape Dedessia with all my memories. But no matter how far you travel, it is all the same. Different extreme environments take turns with each other, interrupted by the occasional safe zone. The culture and relationships between the clans was also mostly the same, mainly due to the harsh environment. There were better and worse groups, but nothing which breaks the rule of thumb. I explored the deepest dungeons I managed to find. I rose as high as possible into the skies. Nothing.”

“After two thousand years of moving in a straight line across Dedessia I gave up, packed my stuff and founded Carissimi. I wanted a friendly family to spend my time with. The reason for that decision was that I rose high enough in the Wanderers' ranks to get a look at their maps. They have rooms filled with maps. Thousands of years worth of exploring. Their leader's goal was the same as mine. Find a definitive end to this hell.” She shrugs her shoulders.

“Where are they now?” I ask.

Doreen points to the East. “Probably a thousand years in that direction as the leviathan flies.”

I frown, thinking about what I was just told. If it is true that this world is bigger than a single being can hope to explore, then maybe escape is impossible. “Maybe Dedessia isn't about escaping in a physical manner. Maybe it is a journey of the mind?”

Doreen's expression lights up and she gestures at the library around her. “Look! I got a smart-ass as a granddaughter. It took me two thousand years and scars all over my body to arrive at that conclusion. Can we continue the lesson about politics?”

I decide that not replying at all is a good idea. Soon afterwards Doreen continues her explanation.

Carissimi exists in a big desert and relocates to its fringes if the water gets scarce. I already got that. According to Doreen most clans are led by higher immortals. That means gods or at least mythical beasts.

To the North lies a big, acidic sea with a single island in its midst. The island is controlled by the clan Imothep with seven thousand members. Their leader's name is Ra and he is a god. They are self-sustaining and mostly keep to themselves. Doreen's latest information says that they have about twenty to thirty higher immortals in their ranks. That makes them quite strong.

The fighting power of a clan is mostly measured by the number of higher immortals in their ranks. Carissimi has currently twenty two higher immortals, which makes us also a force to be reckoned with.

Doreen is always actively trying to recruit everyone above the rank of a lower immortal. If you put us on a power scale, then everyone under a lower immortal is nothing more than a slime. It takes about ten trained simple immortals to deal with a low, ten lows to deal with a mid and a ten mids to deal with a higher immortal.

With other words. Having or not having a higher immortal on your side means having or not having an army. Though someone should never forget that even higher immortals vary greatly in strength. This rule of thumb just roughly judges the power of a clan. Of course there are also all the other usual considerations you have to think of.

Another point is that everything below a mid has big problems to cross the dangerous areas between the safe zones. It greatly restricts warfare to small bouts and skirmishes.

Further to the east are the clans Equilibrium and Soistaat with their leaders Sous and Morpheus. Both clans have their own safe zones which each allow for about two thousand inhabitants. The zones are located on the border between our desert and a vast toxic jungle of plants and dangerous animals.

On Doreen's last count the two clans had between five to ten higher immortals on their side. Unfortunately their leaders are idiots and regularly fight for a mediocre safe zone between them. The zone regularly changes owners and if Doreen's description is correct, then I don't want to live there. It wouldn't be wrong to call it a permanent warzone. That makes both clans vulnerable to raids from other clans.

To our south is a volcanic zone which is covered with lava and infested with dragons and beasts of various calibres. Some of them are strong enough to endanger a god.

The clan Draconis exists there of their own power much like us. With about fifty gods their fighting power is extremely strong compared to their population of just about three thousand people. Their hovering city is drifting in the warm upwind of the volcanoes and they make their living by actually hunting the dragons in that region for food and materials. If they wouldn't need at least twenty of their higher immortals to defend their city at all times from the dragons they would probably rule the entire region.

Grandma has a good relation with their leader, Moonray. He is a mythical beast, a phoenix, and strongly related to us because he actually lived for a while with Carissimi before he created his own home.

When Doreen talks about him she suddenly gets all gloomy. I wonder what's behind that.

Further to the West are three mentionable powers. First we have the clan Parle with six thousand inhabitants. They are living in a dry and rocky region. Though they manage to hold their place by drilling deep into the earth and pumping up water. Regular raids on clans even further south allow them to exist despite their lack of food. But they have easy access to metals and precious stones.

Higher up is the clan Inanimatum. They have their own safe zone and probably the highest population in this region. Their safe zone is actually quite nice if you don't count the sudden temperature drops which occur when the wind blows icy air from a mountain-tundra further north-west over to the safe zone. Not counting those strokes of bad luck the zone actually allows farming! A novelty in most places around Dedessia where you normally have to hunt dangerous wild game to get something to eat.

Though more often than not you are the one who is a part of the food-chain. There are things out there which eat gods for breakfast and mythical beasts for dinner.

Sadly Inanimatum also consists of a bunch of scum-bags. They are the slavers of this region, selling middle and higher immortals like cake, or using them to raid other clans. The only ones whom they have some kind of affiliation with are the guys from Parle.

According to Doreen they must have found a way to increase the number of higher immortals born in their clan. They have a steady number of about forty higher immortals at their disposal despite losing a lot of them in their raids.

Their leader is a god named Enwick. He is a war-demon and a slaughterer according to Grandma.

Last we have a single god who is living in the icy mountain tundra I mentioned earlier. He claims that it belongs to him and kills everyone who dares to set foot on his land. According to Doreen he is on a different power level and a force of his own. Strong enough that even Inanimatum avoids messing with him. Not that he would have anything that interests them. Doreen thinks that he may actually be one of the ice titans of old. The ones who were struck down.

That's it for our immediate neighbours.

When Doreen drifts off into unnecessary details I interrupt her. “Then why does Carissimi still exist? It sounds like we have more potential enemies around us than friends.”

Doreen pauses her explanation and glares at me. “I don't like being interrupted. And to answer your question, it is because we have quite a few alliances with clans like Draconis. They aren't our immediate neighbours though. Clans like Parle and Inanimatum may conduct a small raid on us, but they would never dare to perform a full blown attack.

You also have to see that they gain nothing by destroying their neighbours. They want someone whom they can steal from. With their victims gone, their entire way of life would crumble.”

She sighs. “I see that you need more than that. The clans of this region have a custom of sending their higher immortals without partners on a meeting to find mates. It's a chance to exchange blood and forge ties with each other. We have a few ties of that nature. The location is a month's travel time from here. I also once visited those meetings regularly where I met Moonray, your grandfather. But not any more.”

“Arranged marriages?” I ask warily.

Doreen snorts. “By all the gods, no. How do you want to force a god to do something against his or her will? Unless you put a really strong slave collar on them. But those are very rare. I at least despise those things. Anyway. It's a chance to find someone who equals you in power. I can already tell you that if you don't search in other clans you will be a lone woman. You won't find a partner here, there is nobody of your rank and age. Of course you could look for a low or a mid, but they would always be under your thumb. It's like being married to a baby. I am not sure if that's your thing, I certainly won't say anything.”

“So even if I fall in love with someone, you count on the relationship crumbling because he gets an inferiority complex or me being fed up with a weakling after a few years,” I conclude.

“Smart-ass!” Doreen confirms my conclusion.

.