"Some legends are more real than others," Balon spat back.
Xir'ain laughed in his air-escaping-from-a-punctured-balloon sort of way. "Are you saying you are a fake legend, or that this human god is? As far as I can see, the former is equally likely as the latter."
"I was stating that it's true I butchered entire towns and enslaved thousands," Balon retorted, growing visibly angry.
"And here you are, enslaved by your own choice." Black cloth from the giant's armor-like cloak snapped forth to cover the giant's mouth. "Enly'air, besides the walls, what else protects the city of Ensis'Lucas?"
She thought for a moment. "There is the Order of Steel, a group of many magic-wielding knights that act as a sort of small army and police force, and there is the Trivital, the three leaders of the Order. Each of them is more powerful than the entire force they lead. The port is protected by iron spikes on the seafloor that can be risen by magic to sink any incoming ship. Oh, and there is the high priest who is supposedly an incredibly powerful magician, but he only uses his power to perform miracles. No one actually sees him use his magic, so he might not be as strong as people say." She thought some more. Was she forgetting anything? She didn't think so. "I think those are the only powers that are worth mentioning within the city walls. What do you plan on doing?"
A huge hand emerged from the water. Balon ripped off the cover gagging him, and spat out some of the vile fluid that had seeped into his mouth.
"There is no need to plan. The answer is simple. Allow me to conjure a plague. Send something to taint the city's waters. They all die. A siege would serve no purpose save to amuse."Xir'ain liquified the surface of the lake beneath Balon's heavy feet, allowing him to sink as if he stood on quicksand. The keeper proceeded to ignore the giant's ignorant words. "First, I plan on seeing this city with my own eyes. After that, I plan on becoming its new god. No matter how strong or proud, none stand in opposition against their god when he appears before them." Xir'ain slouched down in his throne. "Unfortunately, I know nothing of fire nor earth. I will deal with that problem after I've visited the city. I must first know my enemy."
Enly'air nodded. Learning about one's enemy was a smart decision. Wait, enemy? Why was Ensis'Lucas the enemy again? Oh well, if Xir'ain called them the enemy then they must be.
Balon found the solidified fluid beneath his feets shift. He attempted to stagger backwards, only to find that he was stuck. His entire body crashed into the lake's serene surface, created what was a tsunami compared to the usual lapping waves. After a few seconds he managed to raise his head above the surface. It was clear that Xir'ain wanted him to be quiet, so the giant endeavored to be loud.
"You? Their little spark of a god? Don't delude yourself!" the giant bellowed, waiting to see what his master's response would be.
Xir'ain turned back to his resident peanut gallery. "Are you still speaking?" The keeper sent his golden light through the giant's darkened chest and stopped the false heart he had implanted in Balon's body.
Thoroughly silenced, Balon sank back into the waters. Some time later an audible thud could be heard as his massive, limp body struck the lake's bed.
"Much better," Xir'ain commented. Enly'air nodded in agreement. She was still confused as to why Xir'ain didn't just kill the giant. After he heard the thud of dead weight hitting stone, Xir'ain sighed. He lifted the body back to the surface and restarted the creature's heart. "I do hate repeating myself. Balon, please don't fall asleep when I'm killing you next time."
The giant attempted to say something, though his lungs had filled with the lake's inky water. What came out was more akin to a hacking cough. A deluge of water spewed out from his mouth and landed on Enly'air, along with an assortment of other bodily fluids.
Xir'ain raised a hand, and the contents of Balon's lungs and throat formed a ball in the air, which he sent flying over the sea of golden grasses. "Fleshy creatures are so messy," the keeper whose body was made of nothing mused.
"Enly'air, Balon, you are dismissed to do what you wish for now. I must retire to my dungeon's heart to prepare for infiltrating Ensis'Lucas. There is no reason to put it off. The plan will be long in execution, so it is best to put it into motion soon. Enly'air, please speak with the runners at some point and tell them everything you know about Ensis'Lucas, no matter how unimportant. They will be able to come up with attack plans should a battle become unavoidable. Balon, do as you wish, so long as you don't kill anything." Xir'ain looked around at the sea of gold. "And stay off the grass," he added. "It's to feed the eels, and likely you as well. You eat, I assume?"
"Not plants," Balon answered, before skulking off. He would try to find the hole in the tunnel that he first fell through, and then clamber back onto the surface there. If he walked along the coastline far enough, he was bound to find what he was looking for.
Xir'ain descended down through his dark dungeon and into his dungeon's heart. He dug inside Enly'air's forgotten memories there, looking at all the many kinds of people she had known and known of during her time as a human. When the keeper was sure of the pattern that human appearance seemed to follow, he began working on changing himself. The vortex of swirling black and arcing gold burst into life, and the black curtain formed over the crack in the bedrock that led to the heart.
Keeper Modification: 0/3(?)
Location: The center of the grasslands on the southern end of the continent, S17E02.
Dungeon: An underwater maze of black water, the only visible sign from above being a black lake with a diameter of a half mile. The tunnels spread just below the ground in all directions.
Minions:
100 aquatic imps
70 black eels (and counting)
15 black runners (and counting)
Infrastructure:
Dungeon Heart (underground spring)
Summoning Chamber
Resources: All the golden grass you could possibly want and an endless source of water from deep below the ground.
Compendium
Xir’ain, the dark abyss. A layer of black skin over a bottomless void, Xir’ain is the soul of an old keeper of the void, but he merged with the first thing he came into contact with in this world: water. Now he is of the abyss, the void at the bottom of the blackened sea. Though his body is close to that of a human, any who see him would be put off by some unnamable wrongness in the fluidity of his movements. His black skin pollutes all it touches, and his mouth is the bottomless pit of the night sky. To look into his eyes is to be reminded of your childhood fears of what lurked in the dark, and to lose the false notion that you had somehow conquered those fears.