Danmachi- Hell’s Forge

Fels and Xenos

Unlike every other god I have ever laid my eyes on however Ouranos didn't have his power sealed away, well not in the same way as the other anyways. No his power seemed to flow out of him and into the dungeon below with a calming, suppressive intent. When I had heard that he was suppressing the dungeon all the time I thought it was referring to in a figurative manner but clearly it was very fucking literal.-

"You have [Soul gaze], I have not heard of a mortal who possessed the skill in many an age." Ouranos said looking at me with a hint of intrigue in his gaze.

"I am closely tied to the concept of the afterlife, Hell specifically. I can even summon and control true Hellfire, though only mere sparks of it at the moment." I said honestly.

He raised an eyebrow at this "Show me." he commanded and I held out my palm and my flames roared into existence above it with those pinpricks of true hellfire floating about the black flames. "So you speak truly then. Is this why you has brought these two before me with such urgency?" the great god asked Ganesha as I extinguished my flames.

"No, while the existence of divine fire in the mortal plane is a matter of great concern it is not why I have requested this audience. This mortal has identified a Xenos from a normal monster because of his [Soul gaze]. Arles in particular who was performing in a show I had orchestrated." Ganesha said with a bowed head.

"Were you aware this mortal possessed [Soul gaze] when you chose to include Arles in this show?" Ouranos asked sternly.

"No, I did not." Ganesha said with his head still bowed.

"Then you can not be blamed for this breach in secrecy. Raise your head Ganesha, you have done no wrong and need not feel ashamed. As for you mortal...." Ouranos started to say as he addressed me but I cut him off.

"Alexander Drake but I go by Alex, being called "mortal" is beginning to grate on my nerves." I said looking him in the eyes.

"Very well, Alex. You must swear to me that you will not spread what you are about to learn beyond these few who are here." Ouranos says firmly.

"I don't mind if it's not a world threatening piece of information but I take it to assume you also include whatever the hell that thing hiding under invisibility over there is as well in this oath yes?" I said jabbing a thumb towards the side of the room where I can see the strangest soul I have ever gazed upon sitting in a location that otherwise looked unoccupied.

"I shouldn't be surprised that his cloak failed to hide him from your gaze. Fels reveal yourself." Ouranos commanded and the air shimmered before an honest to gods lich manifested in the place.

I felt and intense desire to kill this lich the moment they appeared but I caught onto the unnatural emotions origin and grit my teeth and coughed up blood from the backlash as I pushed it down.

"Alex!?" Hephaestus exclaimed in concern as she rushed over to me the moment I coughed up blood.

I raised a hand to tell her I was fine before addressing this Fels character. "My skills REALLY don't like what you have done to yourself. You've bound your soul to that item and cheated death itself, I can not think of any sin greater." I said with gritted teeth.

"How rare, I have only ever heard of skills clashing within a person like this once before. You said you were connected to the concept of Hell quite closely but it seems that was an understatement. Cloak yourself again Fels so that our young friend may be at peace with himself." Ouranos said unhurriedly and the lich vanished from view again but I couldn't tear my gaze away from that soul for a good couple of minutes as the desire to send it to it's proper place ate at the back of my mind insidiously.

"Hells desire to claim my soul is not unjustified for the great sin I have committed and I do not fault you for your reaction to me as a result." An androgynes voice spoke from the place the soul was standing.

"As you have said Alex, Fels committed one of the greatest taboos possible and has cheated the cycle of life and death without achieving divinity. He has been a faithful servant through the many years however so I ask that you not try to send him to the afterlife if you can." Ouranos said with a slightly apologetic look.

"It's fine, if anything I have to thank him for revealing the depth of impact my connection to Hell has on me. Better to understand it now while I have a chance to do something about it compared to later where it may be too late." I said honestly.

"A wise outlook. Regardless I can vouch that the information you are about to receive is not a danger to the world merely heavily societally controversial." the god said and I promised not to spread the information out.

He then told me of the Xenos, a strange phenomena in the dungeon where some monsters spawn with not only souls but personalities and intelligence no different from a persons.

They weren't sure why they came about or how but the current theory after hearing the tales of the current Xenos is that monsters pass on their memories upon being slain in the dungeon and after a certain amount of deaths and rebirths the monster develops a soul and personality. Alternatively if a monster were made into a variant and survived long enough to develop many memories before being slain it had a chance to immediately be reborn as a Xenos.-

The reason for all this cloak and dagger was that monsters were well regarded as the enemies of us adventurers. Even if they didn't seek to fight with us and even wanted coexistence many adventurers would ignore that in favor of slaughtering the Xenos or worse. As it turned out that strange wasp I had saved previously had been a Xenos and those after it were a familia that captured Xenos to be sold as curiosities or worse.