Building an Empire

While Kaz appreciated the peace and quiet he was normally afforded within the ranks of Divine Calamity, he was still obligated to assist the guild on occasion in exchange for his research space. Today he was on one of those jobs. Why he was chosen to speak with some new comer was beyond him. Yes he was one of the best mages in the guild, but he was also generally not concerned with the running of it. Add to that the doldrum of sitting at a dock waiting and you had the recipe for a terribly bored Kaz. It was generally best for everyone if that was not the case.

As he was, he had decided to entertain himself with one of the unlucky dock workers. Currently the man had an arm protruding from his chest, his face shuffled around, and his heart quite literally on his sleeve. It was obvious the man was in great amounts of pain, yet he was still alive despite the horrid state his body was in. Looking about the art he had created, Kaz decided it no longer amused him. So with the sound of flesh and bone being crushed and dissolved, the dark mage sucked the dock worker into his own body. It was always handy to have flesh available for later use.

Just as he was considering finding a new play thing, Kaz saw a boat slip through the fog. Finally the new arrival had, well, arrived. When the masked man departed it, he strode over with the hint of a swagger in his step. “You must be the one I’ve been expecting,” he said with an amused grin. “Nice mask. Is there a face under there, or perhaps it was all torn off in some accident? That would be fun. Can I see?”

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“You will have to ask a slave about your room,” Kaz said with a dismissive wave of his hand. It was clear by the expression on his face that he could not care less about the subject. “I do not concern myself with such affairs.”

Very few things mattered to him outside of his research, as long as his room was kept in order the activities of those beneath him mattered little. It was the job of other people, other Taskmasters, to worry about such things. Which he supposed meant it was at least partially this newcomers job to worry about such things. How convenient.

“Keeping the rabble in their place is a full time job I assume,” he said with an amused smirk. “Well, good luck with that. Try not to kill too many of them, useless as they may generally be, we as their betters still require them to work at our maximum efficiency. Might I recommend some gentle maiming?”

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It seemed the subtle arts of maintaining order were lost on this one. A pity, but ultimately not his problem. If the guild ran out of slaves, it would not affect his research. That was something he had planned against shortly after joining. Ultimately Kaz decided to file this all under “not his problem” and move on. It was a fairly large category that encompassed most things not related to his goals.

“That would be the boss man and the twins,” he said in reply to the question about who was in charge. “You likely won’t encounter the twins, but I am sure you will meet the other boss in whatever form he desires and whatever time he chooses.”

If his answer sounded cryptic, it was not explicitly meant to be. It was just the nature of shapeshifters like Kaz and the co-GM. What information they revealed to others came on their terms, not the other way around. He still had not been able to discern the real identity of the man he had met as Ezekiel, but he was not about to admit that to this masked fellow.

“Beyond them, whoever is strongest is above you and the weaker are below. Cross the strong person and get killed, you only have yourself to blame. Though I really love a fresh meal, so do let me know if you plan on getting yourself killed.” As he said the last, Kaz gave a toothy smile, revealing a mouth full of fangs that had not been there moments earlier. The look in his eyes was unmistakably that of a predator looking at potential prey.

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