Seeker of Thrones 4-28 (King of the Pit)
‘The plain man dressed only in coarse cloth, and his feet were bare, but this was simply a clever disguise, for his unassuming exterior, and even his very flesh, were mere wrappings for the awful and terrible flame inside of him. Enyis could see it poking through his eyes and mouth.
“Enyis,” said the King of the Pit, “Take this flame and with it you will ascend to the surface world once more. Love and light will be yours once again, and you will know the embrace of your family.”
Enyis almost accepted, but as the king held the flame in outstretched hand, Enyis felt its sickening heat, and knew instantaneously that if he took that flame, it would become him. It would never stop burning him until all that was left would be a hunger for more fuel. And he knew it was a clever trick by the King, who could never truly leave the pit, to get him to take that flame to the surface world, where it would burn forever.
It is said Enyis never saw the sun again, and wandered the deep for the rest of his life. But for the alternative, it was a far better fate.”
-Enyis and the Boar King
Well, this is most worrisome.
aw yeah
Is Incubus blind?
Albinism MAY cause blindness in humans, however it is safe to assume one of the last seven demiurges standing has some sort of visual sense.
At least, he can see through the eyes of others, which might be more useful.
Hm. I wonder what’s on the menu in this royal hellscape?
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
Like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
Like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
— Langston Hughes
Raisin in the Sun! Nice.
Stare into the flame too long and you may go blind, but remember that the alternative is staring at the dark, or staring at oneself.
It is easy to sympathise with moths.
Appropriate avatar is appropriate.
I made a Hai kai about this a while ago. It was in portuguese, but I will try to convey what I can in english instead:
“To light, charting
thy orbits winding
if not yet seared”
^ D. S. Oliver, Shadowy poet of the Abyss
So, do not eat the Flame. Got it.
It’s a bit late for that now.
I wonder how AL-YIS-UN is going to get out of this one.
Just what the fuck IS Incubus?
Demiurge
Inheritor (Perceiver, Human?, Albino)
Abuser (Serial, Emotional, Economic, Sexual?)
Betrayer (The Six, The Seven, The Concordance, Alice, his magisters)
Dang. That’s a pretty good resume. But who are “the six?”
Beautiful and well developed – you really CAN draw and the characters are up to it. How can I have missed it until now? there seem to be a lot of inept reviewers. PLEASE carry on – you are with the best!
Evil, Step away.
With a thousand enemies I clearly see one more.
With a thousand fools I see the price of ambition.
So this is your fate if you allow Incubus to “unlock your potential”: a dismal court of ever-thirsty ghouls under a blind god-king. At least he appears to be blind.
And he’s in cahoots with Jagganoth. Go figure.
I spy a familiar trio
One questions what that pulpy red detritus is. The desiccated flesh of those whose mind have been devoured by the albino parasite, Incubus?
I think it’s the waste of the guests who dine at his tables.
Rrruh-roh
“To be paid in blood and flesh” seems to be a theme.
Ok im lost
If I were a mostly all-powerful god-elephant I would sit in people’s pantries and closets and treasure rooms all the time, because I would be able to do whatever I wanted. Alas, I am here in the cabinet.
“Power is a drug.”
That’s not a metaphor.
It’s, like, fact.
Whatever gets the Dopamine and Serotonin into your brain-stem, right?
Withdrawal, sadly, is a bitch and a half.
Addiction is a powerful thing.
Those three to the far left of the second familiar look mighty familiar.
A half-truth is the most brilliant deception.
And jug-bro is climbing the bridge
Powerfully familiar even…
Ah, I see some of our examples again, further along the arc of inevitable betrayal than last shown (for obvious reasons).
Yyeaah, I’m starting to understand why taking that offer might have been a bad idea.
May the black halo be unbroken, by and by Incubus, by and by.
The red ley stones confused me for a moment before I checked and saw Solomon’s emissaries all had purple ones. Anyway, that’s quite a price payed for their shortcut to power, their “aspirations”. Its like some sort of drug, with all of the addiction and desiccation that comes alongside. I wonder if the Master Key will at least alleviate or allow Allison to escape such an eventual fate? I imagine that she will be Hollow for at least some time, though.
Remember that Magisters are not true Demiurges.
Their reliance on their patron, rather than their own power is what leaves them hungry wretches.
AL-YIS-UN must remember that she has a greater source of power than Incubus’ right in her brow.
Her power is in her own hands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkeGMaq0O98
And the stone in Meti’s forehead shone red too. It all comes together.
Recall this: Jagganoth’s fortress is the closest to Lethyx, Incubus’s.
Panel 2, left side… didn’t wee see those three in the lineup where Incubus was tempting Allison?
Along with the jug woman climbing up the bridge.
“Failures, drunks, and weaklings!”
And they, who have eschewed the virtue of righteous toil, now live in a pit of blood and filth. They have become clockwork oranges, wound up by a god, and set loose to fulfill a sordid purpose. Now they are wound down, miserable in their purposeless existence.
It is known that Incubus really likes cups.
FLAMES FOR THE FLAME GOD!!! CUPS FOR THE CUP THRONE!!!
HOLY CRAP!
By the great black goddesses @#$#! I haven’t seen drug withdrawal since that incident with exploding god spine three centuries ago.
Yeah, Black Glass futures are still up.
“Look into those flames, supplicant! Raise your head, look! Is that what you wish to hold, supplicant? Is the shaping of flames what stirs your heart? Know that flames can burn, and if you would learn their power, you must suffer their touch.”
-Mad rantings of a crazed but wise hermit
All of the wisest hermits are also crazed.
The Guild has few rules, but that one we enforce quite strictly.
THE SAINTLY IDOL OF DECADENCE AND ADDICTION! AN ENDLESS NUMBER BODIES SATE HIS COURT! AND STILL THEY HUNGER FOR MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE!!! ALL HAIL THE LORDS OF THE PIT AND THEIR HOLY SWORD KING!!!! MADNESS! MADNESS IS THEIR SALVATION!! FOREVER THEY WANDER, BLOATED AND STARVING, THROUGH THE ROTTEN BLOOD OF DEAD AGES!
What do you think it is that drives people to want far more than they could ever use or need? I frankly think it’s insecurity. How do we let the world know that the trappings of this life are not the things that are ultimately important for being accepted?
Accepted by whom?
Holy crap! Its Pankrator f*king Jagganoth! Sh*t just got real!
Those poor deluded souls. They can’t see their own suffering in this fetid waste pit. Their minds twisted to believe that they have found the greatest, most important thing in the world, something that only the Dealer of Dreams can provide. After all, what wouldn’t one give up to have the greatest thing in the multiverse. Family, friends, self respect, dignity, basic sanitation, they are all expendable in the service of the twisted shrunken reward center of what is left of their mind. Healing from this point is difficult and costly.
Just Say No! and walk away.
Well, looks like his previous emissaries (http://i.imgur.com/T8RfW3q.png) aren’t doing as well from the left side of the 2nd and 3rd panels.
Wonder if Jagganoth is just stopping by for a social visit and a bit of gossip, or something shady?
How many of these are people we know? We see those three from Allison’s dream in the second panel. Am I forgetting that we’ve seen some other folk before?
And here, my lovelies, behold the final trap on the path to Royalty. One who evades the snares of pride and humility, of fear and of wrath. One who has glimpsed Royalty, and the continuous cutting motion it represents.
One who has cut the flesh of God, and found the taste more pleasing than the cutting.
Beautiful is the flame.
But ever must it be fed.
Also, is Incubus blind?
I’m wondering that myself.
Oh look, it’s three of those guys! But where’s the fourth? *scanning the scene for large alcohol container* Ah, there she is, climbing up that bridge!
(Let me just say that I am forever grateful for this comic. It is truly amazing. Like nothing I have ever seen before.)
See alice, its like what they always say. Stay in school and don’t do corporal representations of the god of creations spunk made addicting by the tortured immortality of a demiurge.
These don’t seem like particularly sanitary conditions.
Oh shit. Those people he “helped” ain’t looking so pleased anymore.
I can’t wait to see Cio’s reaction when she finds out what Alison has done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f8hnCc_r5k
Cliiick iiiit
A King among the ashes of kings…
The word Flame burns hot indeed.
Well, Allison certainly has a bright future ahead of her if she doesn’t doublecross Incubus somehow.
A King among the ashes of Kings… the word Flame burns bright indeed.
This is why we must purge the Wheel. Why the circle must be pure and infertile.
You can see the people from the vision incubus showed allison in the left of the second panel. Hope Allison doesn’t meet the same fate.
This all seems quite unsanitary.
Just noticing the ‘inspiring examples’, looking a bit haggard there in panel two…
Well, those three on the left of panel two are familiar.
Behold, the three wretches that Incubus made emissaries on the bottom left side of the second panel. If I interpret this portion of the story of Enyis and the Boar King correctly, then Incubus has more in common with the devil he shares his name with than I thought.
Perhaps Incubus devours the warm black flame of the human soul to sustain his own life, much like how a Devil refreshes their own Name by contract. Incubus is the cannibal god of a corpse city, a necromancer emperor at the head of an army of corpse kings. And, it appears as though he is in league with Jagganoth.
I wonder if the First Consort’s robe hem is as blood-soaked?
So smug, so smug. It will be delightful to see the despair on his face when Al-YS-UN rips his parasitic fire from her head and feeds him to his own FLAME.
Lovely decoration.
That aside… i’m surprised he is military powerful given how dysfunctional his following seems…
“There’ll be peace without end
Ev’ry neighbor a friend
With ev’ry man a king”
My master’s first teaching is that nothing is free. Not the air you breathe, not your own flesh, not your own life, not even your own death. Everything has value, everything must be earned. Beware that which is given freely. I believe I rambled previously on the matter.
As for Incubus and Pankrator Jagganoth’s meeting, I would not speculate on the matter. Such things give me a headache, and I am not fond of those. I will only say that one should beware such a meeting, and make proper haste from it; either it is a meeting of violence, and any too close would be caught in the collateral, or it is a meeting of secrets, and any too close might hear and be silenced.
On an unrelated note, panel two, on the left. Am I mistaken, or are those three of the four that Incubus showed Allison Ruth as examples of his alleged generosity of power?
“Dreams, like all thoughts, are only distractions.”
My goodness, an Alliance between the Lords of Lust and Wrath.
AL-YIS-UN will have to do a lot of legwork.
The first time is always free.
The first is always free.
OH SHIT.
A god of gluttony in his world of filth. But wait, a wild Jagganoth appears…
oh sh*it those poor unfortunate souls in the second panel bottom left are definitely the same saps he showed Alison as his MVP examples………. raise ur hand if ur scared
Jagganoth: “Sup, bro”
“Bro, do u even lift?”
BEHOLD LUST
Those who lust will be consumed by that which they lust after, their lives reduced to a SQUALID RUIN.
And the king of lust covets that which is most unattainable, TRUE ROYALTY. And like the blind man leading the blind, all will rush headlong toward their own DESTRUCTION.
Destruction is the true antithesis to LUST, for true destruction does not covet, true destruction simply IS.
BEHOLD OBLITERATION
Some familiar faces in there.
Poor, unfortunate souls.
The biggest stones fall the farthest, thus do great men fall. Ware the crater child, not the mightiest of falls can kill a lust for power.
‘Lord’ Incubus seems to hold the power he gives as something over his followers. But how old are they, and how old is he? And, of course, how honest was the King with Alison when he only listed her as an ally as her payment?
I’ve some experience with Demons holding power over you in exchange for a part of yourself. It is a situation best remedied by turning things around and TAKING your power, rather than letting them lead you with it like a collar.
And we see the heart of the matter. Raised high by the King’s will, they see how small they truly are yet, and flock closer, desiring more, like moths to his Flame.
Like moths, they strive for the light, and like moths they burn ‘neath the Flame’s radiance. Bodies, minds, and souls grow ever weaker and the borrowed strength fades from them, consumed by the Flame. But they care not, for they may as well be moths, mere insects next to the Flame’s splendour, and the desire to share in its magnificence fills them and grants them a piteous, desperate will, even as it chars them to husks.
And the Flame, of course, cares naught for the little creatures but as fuel to sustain itself but a moment longer. The Flame is voracious, endlessly hungry and all-consuming. What good are moths but to burn?
These beings. Sights like this make you better appreciate the stance of the Thorn Knights. Such filth, weakness, and corruption.
The Middle Army on the throne. Interesting
You know…Incubus is still sexy in his true form. THem pink eyes.
Seems like we figured out who’s that white princeling from Lethyx…
The crowd wants that D
An Incubus enslaved, it seems. Only a fool dances between two flames.
The question: will it matter?
“The long game sees too far ahead, one must take a step back before a setback will ruin them and the tower comes crashing down with a tumultuous castrophany.”
– Saheeli Rai
The veneer of his gift gives way to rot.
So there’s collusion between two bloodthirsty lunatics. Who would’ve known.
Or maybe it’s just a rules-bound contest, though I do not see how cooperation between murderers can be anything but.
Oh lawdy no. Allison, what have you done?
You’ll find warmth in the jaws of god, a flame marked by the crack of bones.
Tread carefully through the teeth or you’ll be sliced by his tongue.
Well, well, well… Is the domain of Incubus a playground for Kings or for Fools ? Maybe both. Either way we can see what happen to those who gave in to his hungry flame : He simply added the potent fuel of ambition so that their flame could burn brighter and hotter but by doing so consumed themselves and left behind only a shadow of their former selves.
ALL-ISUN, you stupid girl, it would be best if you found something to subtain this burning ambition of yours.
Cozy!
Incubus x Jagganoth is my OTP
Hunger gnaws
Darkness draws.
We all have flaws.
Weeeelp! Can’t say I’m surprised.
Incubus and Succubus?
Oh shit, my dudes
Oh shit, my dudes.
Greatness is a drug. And when you don’t attain it yourself, you have no idea what it takes to maintain it.
I guess I should say something about the shocking revelation that Incubus is also working with Jagganoth, but…
..Why wouldn’t he?
This is totally in character for him.
He promised them to be kings, warriors, and people of influence, and that is what they became. Kings and queens of mud, reigning in finery over a muddy and putrid domain.
Bow down to her if you want to.
Bow to her.
Bow down to the queen of slime, the queen of filth, the queen of putrescence.
There is a fine line it seems between consumption and consumption.
A few familiar faces seem to have been afflicted with both.
J: “Incubus! My nigga!!”
I: “Sup u weeb”
J: “Am gud, am gud”
I: “Ayy lmao”
“Very soon, my pet.”
It will be a million years and yet too soon for me to hear those words again. And where I heard them it was not a Demiurge who spoke to a Queen.
Nay I saw a mere man with a morsel of stolen power and aspirations of a feudal domain — a Snake of a man — speaking to an oracle — a stolen girl of barely twelve summers. He drugged her both when the visions became too much, and just to keep her docile.
His demise came none too soon.
Out of curiosity, how soon did the oracle’s demise come?
… is that the Conquering King..?
Awshizzzznit.
Is that the Conquering King?
Awwww shizzzzzzznits.
Hey, it’s those guys! I love those guys! I bet Allison will love them too.
The difference between a council of the most distinguished servants of the Lord of the Golden Army and the dregs of a drug den, from my own knowledge, is the scale of their bodily impurities.
Yes, indeed, I would plead for Yhorm the Giant, lonely ruler of the Profaned Capitol, come and quench this Profaned Flame. Or at least burn naught but human flesh in the resulting linking of the fire.
But, alas, the Giant is already here. And he and the Profaned Flame are in cahoots.
So for most people, being exposed to the flame is a Very Bad Thing.
But for one who holds all the Words, they may rise above it, they may devour it.
These kings with empty crowns, burned hollow and dead. I pity them.
And so the dream allied with the dark and nightmares were made real. The dreamer became troubled, lost in the darkness, and consumed with fear.
You are infinitely metal.
By the way, the guard on that sword reminds me of another sword crafted by Oglaf dwarves. Sort of fits into the Succubus theme as well.
Gop Squat there, Jagganoth. On a side not why squat over a pile of mini-goblets?
Interesting to see how the four he presented as examples of his power turned out in the end.
Accepting that deal was quite probably the dumbest thing our heroine has ever done in her life, and that includes just about everything from her sorority days.
AND THEN ALICE WAS A ZOMBIE
Sweet Jesus, I love your art. The story is terrific, but your art…
*phew*
I follow a LOT of webcomics, but you’re the first to drive me to Patreon. Thank you.
I see some people who took Incubus’ deal once upon a time…
Or rather, I see what is left of them.
So there’s the catch, huh. Turns you into someone hungering for his power boosts.
By my name, don’t those three look familiar?
Well now its for sure, she will totaly not regret her deal
Oh my various gods, the plot! She thickens!
Enyis sounds like a smarter fellow than a certain someone…
Thsee… are all the people Incubus ‘blessed’, aren’t they?
The Chains of Addiction bring those who would dare to aspire and chains them, for aspiration is the key to usurpation. But even the Sword King has a chain of his own, for I suspect the Destroyer may have something over him.
While this shouldn’t be an issue for the Sword King, but dare I say that he is physically blind? How interesting….
You know, this page doesn’t really worry me. I believe the king here bit off more than he could chew, and I look forward to him realizing that as he chokes.
The failures, drunks, and weaklings aren’t looking so hot anymore.
Why look, those three on the left, are they not the kings we saw Incubus boast to have risen so recently ago? Curious.
Them’s some kinky kings…
looks like his power, freely given, is wonderfully addictive. Poor alice, her mind already swimming from power given, shall surely regret her deal.
Oops.
In panel two, you can see the four unfortunates who Incubus used as illustration of his “little push” deal in 4-25: sword-dude, beard-dude, and scale-lady on the bottom-left, and bottle-lady climbing onto the bridge. It looks like making a deal with Incubus ended very, very badly for them.
UUUUUH. The hunger of the Flame causes many to tremble with fear, not just myself. Apt.
Hey look, three of the four examples Incubus are present in panel 2. Wow, taking his deal really worked out for them.
But is Incubus (Incuban?) power/Flame more addictive than crack?
Is the Pit where he disposes of the “servants” who are no longer of use to him–who were once given power, but not given it any more?
Those guys looked a lot healthier three pages ago…
Seems like Fools are abundant here.
I like that we can see the guys from Allison’s dream in panel 2 there.
So THIS is what passes for Royalty in the lands of Incubus.
Pathetic.
When you monopolize attention, it becomes a burden quite unbearable..
Panel 2, there’re our poster children from the Incubus sales pitch. Oh dear…
“More! More!” the mewling horde cried.
“Yes, yes,” Incubus muttered in reply. “I’ll post the next update to my webcomic very soon. Very soon.”
Is it quite comfortable to sit bare-assed on a pile of comparatively tiny goblets? Not sure if recommend
We’re talking about the same guy who drove thirty iron nails into his own flesh, aren’t we?
Kinky
True Giants can hold back the worms for a time.
Can we make K6BD a Netflicks series right now?
Uhg, I can smell this place through the panels. Rotting meat and stale wine.
I can’t help but think that Incubus is not the King of the Pit described, but Enyis to Jaggy’s King.
One thing that I’m coming to really like about this comic is how the protagonist, a fairly average person very much out of her depth, doesn’t miraculously rise to the occasion and show everyone around her that she’s the best person for the job. Rather, she jumps from one badly thought out plan to the next, only pulling through by the skin of her teeth each time.
By the Light… and I thought the Balaajo butchering grounds were awful. The savages who called that place home used corpses of friend and foe alike to spread filth as a defense against intruders. And it worked. Too many of my comrades lost limbs to infection through the tiniest cuts. I couldn’t eat anything for five days after.
But at least that behavior was expected of such monsters. To see kings and arbiters and heroes reduced to such a state…
Is not the power on Auntie Maya’s head also red?
I knew he was a dick.
Looking forward to whether Incubus’s crown will manifest when confronted by Jagganoth. Is this a sign of submission, or is it his nature to hide even his royalty?
Creature in last panel looked like she ought to be familiar. I thought that was perhaps I’s person at the counsel on page KSBD 4-76, but after checking they do look completely different.
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