@[JSN](/user/show/10029968) Honestly that's very endearing of him (like what a wonderful guy there in regards to intimacy)...and interesting in how it contrssts with the princes who have converted people by bringing them to despair. Something tells me that once Albert has to deal with despair- he's going to possibly look at the princes in a very different light. Though he does potentially have a good relashionship with them at least so how that changes is something to ponder If he's basically somebody all the demons like (or most of them), him breaking down in grief and going south could have some major effects on the demons who remain in the east. I hope he will be able to keep his kindness and gentleness through his story. I suspect however that with the story being about healing, he will. The south being a densely wooded area with lots of trees makes sense. The shore being empty and forbidden does as well by the southerners. I'd imagine that as I mentioned- they likely avoid the sea and any rivers that go to it. In thar sense, they may have lots of natural resources but due to being more remote from the other nations are more prone to poverty and attacks from the abyssal gaze, not being as well developed with magic (except maybe water magics). Albert in a situation like that would likely be seen as a savior potentially,although likely initially distrusted unless Albert disguises himself in his human form down south. Honestly the way you make Albert sound he's basically somewhere between wholesome sex demon, unofficial therapist for pre converted humans, and dutiful worker in a compassionate ethos. Ironically, he might need a therapist if things go bad with him regarding his family getting hurt- which is unfortunately going to happen as it's the story's premise. A fascinating one in its effects, but very unfortunate for Albert. Though I suspect once he heals, he will likely continue giving compassion to others- even likely doing so in limited capacity even at his lowest. It's what makes him himself after all.

@Anon It's true, Albert is always there when you need him, but who can be there when he need it? His weakness is that he's too kind, and overly selfless to others. He never considered himself, only doing what he can for the others. He constantly work hard for a living, and it's because he's doing it for his family, it's his duty, in a way.

@[JSN](/user/show/10029968) That does seem to be the crux of Albert's character. Who will step up to be that supporting person for Albert though is the question? Somebody fron the east....or from the south? It reminds me a bit of how medical professionals and caretakers sometimes need therapists of their own. Ironically, people working in mental health usually seek out therapists at times. He is similar to Collin before he became forlorn- though a bit softer. Forlorn is a bit more manipulative bit geniingly believes demonhood bring safety and happiness, so I can see them being two sides of the same coin in a way. I think if forlorn ever figures out the demon invasion led to Albert losing his loved ones...that would be interesting to see in how he reacts to that. It flies against forlorn ideal that demonification is liberation and reunification with loved ones. Despair in the to be converted isn't supossed to happen after demonhood, and yet...here Albert is. Going back to the apprence of the converted, it seems that those made by demons will have some of the physical traits of those that made them, but also traits from their own desires. So they resemble those that transformed them and also their own desires. Of course, there's people like Leon who became covetous who was completely different from anything before- but now likely has a host of soldier demons in his command that are like him. Albert I'd imagine would be part of forlorns host, being more attuned to forlorn compassionate side as he is compassionate, rather than his more darker manipulative side.

@Anon It's an interesting speculation from you, @[Anon](/user/show/10049352). Albert himself might keep it a secret from the princes, in order to not let them worried and find a way to deal with this as soon as possible.

@[JSN](/user/show/10029968) Something tells me with how emotionally devastating the loss will be on Albert they are probably going to figure it out one way or another. I mean....if Albert winds up going south and stays there for an abnormally long time...eventually people will start speculating. Though honestly considering Albert might wind up realizing the demon invasion caused his family to be harmed....it's probably for the best they don't figure it out. Because I can guarantee that is not something any of the princes are capable of handling. Demonhoods main lures are that it brings pleasure and reunites one with other loved ones in a state of strength. If that second point is no longer always true...what does that mean for demonhoods promises? If one can be false...what about the other? Albert likely has first hand knowledge seeing the trauma of survivors but likely helped them seeing demonhood as better. But if he sees that demonhood (in the context of the demon invasion) is what harmed his family will likely be a very challenging thing for him to navigate as suddenly the thing he saw other people being traumatized and thinking such was a misunderstanding of demonhood due to ignorance turned out to be a very valid concern....and I don't think he'd voice his concerns to anybody else. I don't think he'll ever abandon being a demon-though at his lowest he may wish to do so- but I do think he'll have a long complicated think of what a demon represents- and what they are, what they can be, and what they should be on the context of what desire, pleasure and love are, and what they should be. To do as albert likely will do in pondering demonhood would be to question weather demonhood is good on fulfilling its promises...which would likely be seen as heresy. Which might explain why he winds up south- either he had a falling out with the other demons or he's hiding. I think the others might eventually figure out what's going on...but weather weather take Albert's concerns seriously or dismiss them is not certain. While the princes sought liberation from Eastern repression, figures like callous and even the others show a very selfish streak at times while converting others- though under the assumption such is needed for liberation, or just for pleasure or as an overcorrection to compassion fatigue or eastern norms that hurt them or repressed them. But Albert can't use the liberation and loved one reunification points anymore because he's literally seen them (or will see them) not apply to his family, which means he'll need to find a new reason, or reinterpret how demonhood can lead to those things, if it can. And I don't see him engaging in being uncaring either- seeing as that likely contributed to his family being harmed- those that hurt them likely didnt care. Not to mention if Albert gets caught up in abyssal gaze shenanigans, the demons will likely start figuring out something is off. Albert likely plays a major role as a pr figure in making demonhood appealing- while they don't need him, he would likely be very integral to many plans with the demons of finding remaining survivors. Not having him puts a delay on that, which would make the princes want him with them again- Albert could make reasonable excuses to get some distance, like a long term mission, but it might get harder to keep that cover up. If he does get lucky though it could work out though. In light of all this, I suspect that it's likely a southerner who will wind up supporting Albert during his tough times. As much as the demons may mean well to Albert I don't think they are remotely equipped to handle what happened to Albert, and would only be able to do so after a lot of introspection, which is likely not happening. The Wolfmen of the west are likely going to change their ways only because of the demon invasion fallout, and those of the north became more tempered after nearly all dying in a disastrous spirit on spirit war (one of the warring parties literally being a destructive spirit if I remember right). Albert's case may wind up throwing a spanner in demon society that could cause massive changes, or not. After all, I doubt sybarite wants any of his own to start questioning demonhood because that could become a threat to him. The princes may try to understand, but sybarite would not- and considering how the princes like sybarite I doubt they're safe for Albert to go to either.

@Anon I think each demon princes would find a way to comfort him in order to make him forget about the pain of losing his family, and created another motive for him to serve the hellish horde. Which is to make his family alive again.

@[JSN](/user/show/10029968) I could see the princes doing that in order to keep albert with them (and also more practically to avoid albert potentially becoming an unknown agent and flying off the handle in his grief, as well as genuingly feeling bad for him), but then there lies another question. Albert still had to face the cognitive dissonance that demonhood in some form got his family killed- which runs counter to what it promises. This would get even worse if Albert winds up believing he somehow was at fault. His family coming alive again would be an interesting motivation and perfectly reasonable on Albert's part, but considering how the necromancer king is focused on undeath it doesn't look like raising the dead as full resurrection rather than zombies is a common thing in these lands- anything close to that I fear would have been with the dawn who is...very much not here right now. Unless the abyssal gaze has powers that could do something (and I feel that would probably take a detour into lovecraftian horror). As it is, sybraite can rewrite reality, but even if strengthened I really doubt that would be able to invert time....then again if he can warp reality- or matter and space....then by general relativity with enough power warping time would also be possible....not sure if that would end well though. Sybarite in particular seems very....sinister at times. And thud depends on how sybarite sees Albert- though I guess sybarite might find him useful to the cause and decide to give him a break? However, if Albert running from the demons isn't really a thing in the longterm, what has him wind up in the south? I highly doubt he'd go there on a mission- the demons would probably be more focused on the north and east as targets of conquest. As @Pcm puts it, the south is a backwater. However, considering sybarite can warp reality, I could see Albert hoping to gain aid from his fellow demons to get his family back. None of the other entities we've seen so far have that ability, and it's the closest thing to time manipulation which could get Albert a chance wirh his family again. Though I strongly suspect time travel is not a major component of this story, so likely there will he some other strategy they use regarding Albert's family.

@Anon I would not tread too heavily on JSN's story here, but let me clarify just few things about the law. The Sacred Dusk's necromancy has both corporeal and apiritual conponents. His indead army are indeed souless, bit he can alternatively summon "unrestful" souls to aid him. The newer Gods are, paradoxically, meant to represent the inversion of natural order. The Dawn heals people who would otherwise die, and the Dusk protects kill powerful villains who should be unstoppable. In a sense, the Dawn and Dusk have corrupted the natural world to fit their design, and are seen as villainous by followers of Primordial Gods. The demons have limited power over this reality because their corruption is not complete. Howver, who knows what the extent of demonic reality altering power if the victory is complete, especially after the conquest of death realm?

@[Pcm](/user/show/10039396) It seems to me that when the dusk and the dawn won a long time ago they e ssentially stopped any of the other primordial from getting supremacy, leading to an uneasy power balance. We also know they interfered in other lands like in the west with the formation of house aigles. I would argue that to a degree, the dawn and disk kind of were altering things too. We know the dusk was healing people so they wouldn't die....did he start doing that in excess to the point that he died because there does seem to be a trend of healers over exerting themselves in this story ? As for the dusk, if he has the ability to bring back souls fully cognizant that are either recently dead or those hanging on in the living plan, that could spell trouble if things get out of hand- elden ring and dark souls feature quite well what happens when the death cycle goes wonky. I suspect these two entities wanted to make a safer world, but they didn't lay out a means of continuing that in full with enough safeguards. What I think for the primordial gods is the bigger issue is that for as annoying as the dawn and dusk were- the demons are significantly worse. They won't stop for anything. The abyssal gaze might not care much, but the primal best and those in the north are about to really not have fun. Also if the demons do wind up winning control over death that would be really bad as that could screw up how people die and that entire process of the soul. Even if the dusk is a local God, his role is technically important- if he's gone who is taking care of getting rid of the villainous? I really doubt the demons would be interested in doing that. Ironically, now with the demons we know have the east likely taking an even greater offensive than before against other nations, which they were already doing as anti- primordial efforts So...most of the primordial gods and their followers are about to have a nasty suprise. I mean...they might not like the dusk, but wirh him gone who's stopping the demons? Or worse...he becomes one of them and suddenly even death isn't safe for anybody. However, considering that the demons were beaten once- its highly likely such could possibly occur again. The dusk and dawn seem to have either been primordial or outsiders like the demons- if anybody else shows up to shake up the board in the long future that could affect the demons just as much as they are effecting everyone else.

@Anon A fun thing to consider, what does the dusk mean by being 'a hand of the eternal clock'?

@[Pcm](/user/show/10039396) If the dusk refers go themself as that, I'd assume it's in the context of life and death- the "clock" generally being existence and the hands signifying life and death. The attributes of the dusk aside from death seem to be oriented towards fiercer aspects but not eternal one's. If that clock were to get messed up...well that wouldn't be pretty. I am guessing here though. Either that or the dusk has a much larger role than being a local eastern god (with the clock signifying some other being, and the concept of being a hand as being a servent, but you've said such is not the case, so it can't be that.

@[anarchomegalomaniac](/user/show/907794) I mean, Lucas can also just undo/change the trigger

@[BobbyBlobfish](/user/show/700733) Thanks! Not really my first story, just the first one I've felt happy enough with to post -- I have an older one I'm currently reviewing and editing, might post that soon as well!

@[SuitAndTieLover](/user/show/1478878) Thank you and it's my favorite as well. I like the erotic horror of losing one's self. Also as a former Mormon myself wrote about some ideas and thoughts that I have involving people from the church.

@[nerdysuitedbaby](/user/show/164769) I have always been envious of Mormon men, and how they dress and behave.