[Null POV] Year 5, Day 206 (Evening before race)
It was late. Maybe nine or ten. All the riders and dragons had left. Just their group remained now.
Null and Lucifer worked together cleaning up the campsite. Fifty people had eaten here throughout the evening. Lot of dishes. Lot of mess.
Lucifer had been assigned to babysit them tomorrow during the race. X’s actual role was as head of the large dragon sanctuary – proper responsibilities, official duties. So Lucifer would stay with Null’s group instead.
Also, Black Wings party and some maids would join them tomorrow. Master would have proper entourage for the race. Black Wings had been making a small roundtrip of the Republic with groups of maids – letting them visit their homes, see family. Providing security since Ealdred-trained maids were valuable targets. Even the dresses they wore were worth significant money.
When news about the race came, Black Wings had changed direction toward Central. Should arrive tomorrow morning early.
Null didn’t mind. Meant more time with Lucifer. And Master would be properly represented tomorrow.
She grabbed plates while cleaning. Found leftovers. Nothing else was left in the pots – everything had been eaten. But few plates had bits remaining.
Null used her hands. Ate directly from the plates. Nothing proper about it, but efficient.
Lucifer watched with amusement. “You should be trained by Ealdred. Didn’t he teach how improper this is?”
“Yes,” Null said between bites. “But he’s not here.”
Lucifer laughed. Just laughed. “You’re maybe the only one in Central who eats others’ leftovers like this. But I guess monster logic doesn’t always align with mankind.”
“Mankind is stupid then,” Null stated. “Why throw away food that tastes good?”
Lucifer didn’t argue. Just kept cleaning.
They didn’t talk more after that. But Null felt something from him. Happiness. About the banter they’d had most of the evening. It was mostly after everyone left them alone here. She hadn’t seen need to act that proper anymore – started cleaning other people’s plates, collecting leftovers, just being herself.
And he seemed pleased by it. Comfortable with it. Like her being casual around him mattered somehow.
Null checked through the bond. Master was almost asleep.
She checked others through the seed network.
Kira: Took her a bit but seemed to be having quite nice sleep now. Needed it for tomorrow.
22 and X: Bit far from camp. Close to each other. Null wasn’t fully sure what they were doing – maybe? She’d seen people position like this in one of the less reputable establishments in Borderwatch. Whatever. They were both grownups and neutered. Nothing would come from it anyway.
Then she felt Void sleep.
And there was almost instant switch from what she’d felt all day. The cold. The cold Void had every night.
Null excused herself. Walked to Void’s cottage.
Void slept there. Holding the picture close to his chest. Body curled around it.
Null worried briefly. The magical metal plate felt like ice normally. Might make the cold worse.
She touched it. Warm. Void had warmed it up with his body heat somehow.
Strange. But if it helped, good.
She pulled all the blankets in the cottage. Piled them on top of Void. Knew it wouldn’t help – Master had tried warming spells, different rooms, magical solutions, everything over the years. Nothing worked. The cold wasn’t physical. Was something else. Something deeper.
But she was already here. Might as well try. Something was better than nothing.
Then through the bond, she felt it. Nightmare starting.
Void had nightmares sometimes. Null had seen them before – over years she’d managed to piece together understanding of his two centuries as slave based on these dreams.
This one she recognized. Seen it before. Better version though – no whipping this time. Just the cold.
The nightmare had no faces. No distinguishable features. Probably result of mind cleanup spells applied to slaves. She’d tried to identify the owners from dream fragments. Couldn’t. Just blurred shapes. Voices without source. Hands without bodies.
This nightmare: naked Void – female form still, gender transformation active – bound with chains to stone wall. Outside. Cold night. Some kind of mix of snow and water falling from sky.
Just cold. Endless cold. Waiting. Enduring.
She’d seen worse versions. Where the owner came. Asked “are you cold?” When Void said yes, whipped him. Said it would give warmth.
This one didn’t have that at least. Just cold. Just suffering. Just waiting for it to end.
Null had managed to piece together the timeframe. This owner had kept Void maybe ten years. Used him as home teacher for children. Outside it looked quite nice – Void even had his own room. But actually the owner had wanted to “upgrade” Void to bed warming services.
Void never agreed. You couldn’t force elves – death and suicide curse prevented it.
So the owner had harassed him. For years. Hoping to break him. Get agreement through desperation.
Never worked. Void never broke that way.
Null felt anger. If she could locate these guys, their fate would be really bad. Worse than the Blood Cult. Worse than the caravan. Worse than anything she’d done before.
But she couldn’t find them. No faces. No names. No distinguishable details. Just fragments. Just suffering preserved in nightmare form.
She’d thought about asking Nora for help. Nora ran security for entire Borderwatch by now. Made it one of the securest cities in the Republic.
Null didn’t really care how – the psychotic city watch, public executions, whatever methods Nora used. Just impressed by the results. Like how she’d tricked LOVER’s evil brother into selling himself to slavery. Both Null and the Twins had found that very funny and fair.
And part of those results came from Nora’s tracking abilities. The hunting maps. Finding people who didn’t want to be found.
But this was Void’s deepest fears. Null was worried about pushing them into his face. It was her trying to be sensitive. To not make things worse.
She’d tested waking him before. Enough times to learn it helped nothing. He’d be in bad mood. Then when he went back to sleep, same dream returned. Sometimes worse.
Better to let it run. Let him suffer through it. Let it end naturally.
Null stood there. Watching Master sleep. Watching him shiver despite all the blankets. Despite the warm room. Despite everything.
No ideas. No solutions. No way to fix this.
She left the cottage. Closed the door quietly behind her.
Nothing she could do. Not tonight anyway.
She walked back to where Lucifer sat. He’d finished cleaning, just sitting there looking at the night sky.
Quiet for bit. Then he asked, “You okay?”
First thing that came to mind: “How do you fix the unfixable?”
Lucifer thought about it. “Change the problem. Fix something else, get similar result.”
Null thought about that. Not bad actually. Just wasn’t sure how it worked here.
«Spy,» she asked through the network. «Can you put up anti-surveillance spell? Want to be super safe.»
«Oh, so you’re finally asking for help?» Spy sounded bit sneaky.
«You know?» Null asked.
«I often know what you know,» Spy replied.
«And you said nothing?»
«What was I supposed to say? Not like I had ideas either,» Spy said.
The spell went up around them. Then Spy showed himself.
Lucifer stared. Eyes went wide. “Whoa…”
“Hello. I’m Spy,” he said casually. “You can think of me as Null’s other half. Forever companion.”
“Divine,” Lucifer whispered.
Looked like Lucifer could see divine things properly. Staring at Spy like he was looking at something way beyond normal.
Lucifer finally managed to talk. “I’ve seen the Pope give blessings. After seeing you? You could destroy every church in the world just by showing yourself publicly. Proof that what they worship is nothing.”
Null could read his head. Whatever divine thing Spy had, it made the Pope look like nothing. Not even close. Different levels entirely.
Lucifer looked at Null. “Is your true form like that too?”
Spy answered, sounding amused. “Probably more. Just other end of things. But we can talk about that later.”
Right then, 22 walked through the barrier. Fast. Like she’d been moving at speed.
“Finally,” she said. Voice tight. Annoyed. Almost mad but also somewhat relieved. “I almost gave up on you actually doing anything about this.”
Null couldn’t understand. What was 22 doing here? She looked around, then at Spy. [Why?]
She felt almost betrayed. Why had Spy called 22?
22 noticed the look. Continued quickly. “Don’t blame Spy. He made me a promise about it.”
Null looked at Spy. «Why?»
«Just listen to her,» Spy said simply.
22 added, “Yes, please. All of you. You can take my head if you feel my reasoning is wrong.”
Null couldn’t understand anything. But she felt Lucifer’s discomfort spike at the suicide offer. Casual head-offering probably wasn’t normal conversation opener. Null herself was used to 22’s zealot tendencies. Last time it was offering ears – now upgrade to head apparently.
Then Null thought… where was X? He’d been with 22. She checked surroundings through her senses. X seemed to be same spot as before.
“Is X also coming?” Null asked.
22 literally exploded in rage. “Are you RETARDED or something?! What is X connected to ANY of this?!”
Her rage was so extreme she threw first thing her hand found. Some kind of porcelain pot from the table.
Null’s hands moved to catch it instinctively. The throw—while harmless to her—would kill a normal human several times over from sheer force.
She caught it without issues. The pot shattered in her grip.
Same time:
«Both of you, calm down,» Spy said quickly.
“You are Vowsworn Aethelthryne! ACT like one!” 22 shouted.
“Vow-sworn Ay-htel-thrine?” Null tried to repeat it. Got it wrong. Confused.
She felt light bulb going on in Lucifer’s head. Like suddenly everything explained.
Her misspelling made 22 even madder. “Honestly, when we get back to Borderwatch I will go and skin that useless oni! Instead of teaching you something ACTUALLY useful, he wastes your time with endless tea ceremonies you already know!”
Lucifer saw things going really off. Stepped in.
“STOP. You two. SIT. BOTH.”
He pointed at two chairs. Neither reacted initially.
“SIT.”
Null did it. 22 followed after some delay. Reluctant but complying.
Lucifer waited until both somewhat calm. Then asked Null directly. “Do you know who Vowsworn Aethelthryne is?”
Null shook her head.
Lucifer explained. “Vowsworn Aethelthryne is highest possible rank of elven servants. Almost mythical. In short – someone who has ability to override master’s commands.”
Null processed that. “Servant who can give commands to master?”
“Yes. Enigma, I know. They don’t usually exist.” Pause. “Just asking for scientific interest – can you command Master Void so he can’t reject it?”
Null thought about that. She could theoretically use the seed against Void. Would never do it, but if she actually wanted to force something… nothing Void could actually do to stop her.
She nodded.
“Then you are Vowsworn Aethelthryne.” Lucifer looked almost pleased by the conclusion. “Actually, given who you are, it’s not that strange. In elven legends, Vowsworn Aethelthryne are usually inhuman monsters or similar entities. Ones not motivated by gold or glory. There are way too many horror stories about this rank being abused—servants becoming new masters. We actually had a small scandal in the Banking Guild some fifty years ago when one elven master got completely destroyed by his servant who had an oath against him.”
22 commented sharply. “Fools.”
Lucifer agreed. “Totally.”
He continued. “So Vowsworn Aethelthryne is like myths – everyone talks about them, but I’d never seen one before.” He looked at 22. “Have you? Before Null?”
22 shook her head. “Only wannabes who became masters afterward.”
Lucifer looked at Null again. “Do you have more questions?”
Null felt bit overwhelmed. “Why would I need to command Master? I don’t want to command Master. It’s wrong.”
Lucifer saw her confusion. “I understand it looks like a curse. Should be one even. But not all curses are bad. In perfect world you should never use this ability. In stories they’re usually high-ranking servants who aren’t that visible outside. Their only real mission is ensuring master’s safety and wellbeing.”
He paused. Looked between them. “But you still haven’t explained why this matters tonight. What’s the actual problem?”
Null felt Lucifer wanted more information. He knew she’d wanted to talk about something – probably about Master – but had no idea what exactly. Making guesses would be bad.
22 switched to lecturing mode. “It’s clear to everyone in the house that Void has problems. But if he or one next to him won’t raise those issues, others can’t either. For example, it would be idiotic if some kitchen wench started trying to fix Master’s sleeping problems on her own initiative.”
“You’re not some kitchen wench,” Null said.
“What am I then?” 22’s voice carried frustration and sarcasm. “Never given any real tasks in household. Other than building this hot spring – something you constantly remind me about. Beyond that I just suggest here and there what my status allows.”
Lucifer interrupted. “22, I think there’s clear miscommunication happening. You follow rules by the letter – nobody else even knows them. Maybe you should teach others?”
22’s expression tightened. “I suggested it to Master Void once. We argued for hours. Ended up with some partial list of useless things I and Alpha were allowed to teach. Everything important forbidden.”
Lucifer’s face showed clear pain. Like his head hurt from processing the dysfunction.
After some delay – once he’d processed enough – there was almost happiness on Lucifer’s face. Null felt it clearly. He really liked listening to female issues and counseling them. But this was totally different. Actually meaningful. Not love problems again.
He started. “Okay. Both of you – short summary of the issue. 22, you start.”
22 hesitated. Delayed.
Spy cut in. “Just talk. I’m fairly sure what Null shares will be way more private anyway.”
22 took breath. “Master Void is weak. There’s an army of loyal servants following him, but he doesn’t show them back the respect they show him. He should lead by example. Instead he avoids decisions until last opportunity. His main strategy seems to be hoping issues go away or just ignoring them until impossible. He needs to get over this slave self-esteem.”
She paused. More frustration showing. “And sometimes when others make decisions because he never gave commands or avoided giving them, he’s unhappy with the results. Makes everyone else unhappy too. Everyone walks on eggshells trying to guess what he actually wants.”
Then Lucifer pointed to Null.
But Null felt unsure. How much should she share? She’d had idea to ask for help, but thinking deeper… what if sharing sensitive facts could hurt Master?
She decided to go with one thing she knew well. Violence.
“If anything I talk here leaks or harms Master – death is too good for whoever causes it.”
The reaction wasn’t what Null expected.
22 literally rolled her eyes. “To the point please already.”
Lucifer looked almost approving. “Violence is probably Null’s main way to solve issues. So she decided to open with a nice threat. Understandable.”
Null struggled to find words. How to explain what she felt. What she’d observed.
“Master is not happy,” she started. “I want Master to be happy. Like he was today while riding wyvern. I never felt him that happy before. It was almost like… what he probably was before slavery.”
She paused. Processing. Trying to articulate. “The moment he went to sleep today, he reverted back. The cold. The nightmares. Master is not happy – he’s hunted by daemons of his slavery days constantly. It’s stronger at night but also affects many decisions during daytime. What 22 described.”
22, Lucifer, and even Spy watched her with interest now.
Lucifer asked, “How long was he a slave?”
“Two centuries.”
Lucifer thought about that. “As it seems to be the root of all issues, how much do you know about this period? It can help if we know more.”
Null pulled out a fat notebook. Something she’d been filling for years. Based on Void’s dreams mostly. All the owners he’d had. Everything she’d managed to collect about them.
Both 22 and Lucifer started reviewing it.
Lucifer had hard time processing. The content was not easy reading. The dream from today – there were over a hundred more like it. Plus many other horrible things.
First one who finally talked was 22. “Holy fuck. I owe apology to Void for surviving it.” She kept reading. “But how did he manage to find so many perverted owners? I understand one or two wanting to have fun with male elf. But every last one?”
Ah. Null realized – they didn’t know about the gender transformation gem.
She gave them short summary. How Void ended up in slavery. Mother’s desperate plan. The gem implanted. Male elf transformed to female. Ear tips cut. Cheap collar applied. Plan failed. Ended up actually enslaved as female.
After that, both 22 and Lucifer went wordless. Clearly more than they’d expected.
Lucifer went back to first pages in the book. Reviewed those. “Oh, it makes so much sense now.”
Null asked, “What?”
Lucifer’s mind was jumping. Random words from full sentences. Hard to read coherently.
He explained while reviewing. “Void’s story… first fifteen years or so seem quite okay. Nothing really crazy here. Probably because he was in elven lands still. While elves are big slavers, they’re even bigger racists. Put so many laws to protect elves in slavery that owning elven slaves there isn’t that profitable.”
He continued. “Usually owners try to convert elven slaves to contracts that allow more use. For females it’s nearly always contracts for sexual services or similar. It’s not actually that bad a system – they also have law that unfair contracts can be annulled after hundred years. So elven slaves almost always end up free eventually. They literally call it ‘century of shame.'”
“After Void declined every offer to convert, probably one of the owners decided to export him outside elven lands for more profit. Elven slaves cost much more there.” He flipped through pages. “And it’s quite visible here – owner after owner tried more and more creative ways to make him agree.”
22 took over. “Something he was not able to do. It would be his death sentence.”
Null couldn’t understand. “Why?”
22 explained. “Well, Void is mage. So he probably knew quite well the big weakness of those gender change tools. Good ones are almost impossible to discover once activated. But the way they work – they don’t handle foreign mana in body well.”
She used her fingers to demonstrate. Made circle with one hand, pushed finger through it. “The moment boy puts his thing into girl hole, lot of foreign mana enters. And bye-bye your fancy tool. It’s issue mages tried to fix since time immemorial. Syndicate patent for working solution would make you rich. Sex sells.”
Lucifer gave some strange looks at 22’s demonstration. But Null felt he did not disagree – wasn’t clear how much monsters like Null knew about human sexual life. How these two saw it almost made him laugh, if the topic wasn’t so sad.
“So basically,” Lucifer summarized, “Void was between hard rock and stone. Not accepting meant more torture to force acceptance. Accepting meant probably death.”
Lucifer asked while handing the book back to Null, “Is there something else? Current issues?”
Null and 22 had covered it. But then Spy spoke up. Lucifer probably hadn’t expected answer from him.
“Few more things I can highlight,” Spy said.
“He thinks he doesn’t deserve to be master. Afraid to force or own those under him. Doesn’t want to become ‘the thing that owned him’ – his words, not mine.”
Spy continued. “No self-confidence. Overthinks everything. Conflict-averse. Results in lot of decisions made on his behalf. Which often makes things worse because then he feels guilty about those too.”
Pause. “And everything even remotely slavery-related causes panic, trauma, rejection. Probably why he blocked 22’s suggestion about including elven culture in servant training.”
Silence settled. Everyone processing. Understanding the scope.
Finally Lucifer asked, “Any ideas how to fix it?”
22 spoke immediately. “Same thing I suggested to Void once. Get a CAT.”
Null looked confused. “CAT?”
Lucifer glanced at 22. Understanding visible. Null felt from his mind that he fully agreed with the idea. Complete agreement. No hesitation.
He explained. “CAT in elven society is a title used by catkin mages. Usually female, but not exclusively.”
Null waited. Let him continue.
“Elves have significant cultural practices around ears. When they marry, they mark each other’s ears with magic. Bonding ritual. Important tradition.” He paused. “Catkin ears are mana compatible with elves. Actually have stronger mana concentration than elves themselves. When elves play with cat ears – transfer mana back and forth – it creates good feeling. Strong medical effects. For something like bad dreams or nightmares? Probably helps quite well.”
Null processed that. “Let’s get a CAT then.”
Lucifer’s expression shifted to more serious. “Not that easy. Among feline beastkin populations, there’s almost no mages. And catkins are the rarest. Their mana goes into muscles and physical capabilities, which makes them very strong. But finding a catkin mage? Like one in a million, probably rarer.”
He continued. “So elves use extreme methods to acquire them. Kidnapping. Forced acquisition. It’s normal practice. Accepted.”
Pause. Weight building. “And there’s one more issue that might make Void really hesitant about all this.”
Null felt confusion. “What?”
Lucifer explained carefully. “CATs are usually mutilated. Their mana meridians get cut so all mana flows into their ears. Makes the effect stronger. Much stronger.”
He added technical context. “It’s not that rare for mages to cut meridians – quite easy way to increase force while sacrificing detail and finesse. Plus many CATs end up addicted to it. The feeling is quite nice apparently. All beastkin have sensitive ears. CAT with mana mixed into it? From what I hear, it’s like heaven.”
Final summary. Direct. Clear. “So Void – your kind master – probably doesn’t want to own a person who’s usually kept under lock and key like a pet. Often addicted. In constant danger of being robbed. Elves fight over CATs due to rarity. It’s valuable property. Expensive. Complicated.”
Null asked the critical question. “But can this actually HELP?”
Both Lucifer and 22 nodded. Agreement. Certainty.
22 spoke with unusual weight. “I can promise you it will help. Some ear play before sleep and Master Void will never have bad sleep again. I talk from experience. I had CAT in the past.”
Null felt something rare through the seed network. Actual care in 22’s voice. Light emotional leakage when talking about the CAT. Not her usual clinical detachment. Something genuine.
[She cared about that CAT. Really cared.]
Null asked, “Ideas where to find one?”
Lucifer considered. “Best of my knowledge, this continent has none. Or if there is one, owner probably hides it to extremes. Too valuable. Too dangerous to expose.”
Null turned attention to 22. “You had one? Experiences?”
22 sighed. Actual emotion showing. “I used more than a century and a fortune searching. Finally found a baby. Needed to kill a fellow elven archmage over it in the end. Was not the only one looking.”
She continued. Weight in her voice. “Later had number of issues. Treacherous disciples trying to steal her. Robbery attempts. Ended up rebuilding my tower so the top floor was secure room. Basically fortress. Nobody could enter when I was away. She was safe there.”
Pause. Professional assessment returning. “Mine was exceptionally strong. Usual CAT will not cause that level of complications. But still…” She trailed off. “Still difficult.”
22 added practically. “Target someone unused by other elves. Ears marked with mana from previous use make them less effective for new masters. Need one that hasn’t been used yet. Unmarked.”
Null thought about all this. The complications. The rarity. The effort required.
“We keep eyes open then,” she said finally. “No good plan to find one yet. But we have time if nothing else.”
Long pause settled. Uncomfortable silence.
Null felt Lucifer wanted to say something. His mind churning with thoughts. But he looked at her. Saw she needed time to think. Processing everything. Decided not to interrupt.
Minutes passed. Just sitting there. Night quiet around them.
Then—
Null felt screams in the seed network. Nothing like she’d ever felt before.
By the look of Spy and 22, they’d felt something too. Both frozen. Both shocked.
It took Null a moment to understand what was happening.
Five maids just died. In Borderwatch.
Then the wave hit.
Emotions. Ideas. Feelings. Memories. Everything. Coming like tsunami through the seed network. Similar to reading minds but the amount was completely different. Like someone’s entire life – their entire being – compressed into single moment and forced through the connection.
Lives. Complete existences. All at once. Too many. Too much.
Null’s mind crashed. Overwhelmed. Drowning. She felt others trying to say something. Trying to ask questions. Mouths moving. Sounds coming.
But she couldn’t process anything. Couldn’t understand. Couldn’t respond.
Just the wave. Just the lives. Just everything flooding in without mercy.
