Bone-white fog eddied around the greaves of Death's Demise as he strode alone down distant road in the far reaches of Memory, bereft of even a company of his Death Knights. Pausing mid-step, Slith slowed and glared ahead with a sneer curdling upon his lips.

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "We were to meet elsewhere. Not on the endless Road."

Stepping out of the persistent haze came the Lord of Wealth, His opulence dripping with shimmering silk and foreign jewels beyond mortal ken. Amusement flickered in His platinum eyes, and a tempting smile tugged at His beard.

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "To meet elsewhere would risk much. Memory's road is all that is safe, with you and I both under truce. And the path is all that is truly separate from the deeper abyss of this place."

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "You are a question, Slith. Were it not for the Authority of My Realm, this would not have been considered."

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "So this meet is at My appointed time and place, or you scramble back to the waiting talons."

Slith's eyes burned with red-hot contempt, staring down the gilded Divine without breaking His gaze. The God of Wealth grinned back and glanced down at the many rings upon His fingers, each gleaming with a puissant, aurous glow.

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "I would not seek to try anything. I did not come alone."

Breaking from Prospero, the crimson eyes of Death's Demise flicked frantically through the blanketing mists all around, but nothing could be seen in their pale and ever-shifting depths. His sneering lips curled into a hateful scowl, but not before he stormed forward and leveled his chthonic-forged blade at the necklaced throat of Wealth Himself.

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "Do not play games with me, Merchant. The Pantheon struggles like worms underfoot, and You are soon to be ground out with the rest."

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "Are We? We fling victory upon triumph at you."

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "But not without cost. Costs You keep paying, and the price grows higher with each one. I am curious. How do You intend to find him in the endless tides of Memory? You can feel it crawling down the back of Your necks, can You not?"

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "How many more moments before I am beset by a recollection from Your past? Pray it is only a memory of Your debauchery, and not one of the many foes accosted by Your accumulation of Wealth. Oh Golden Lord."

The playful visage of the Merchant Lord shattered as His lips descended into a frown and His liquid-platinum eyes grew dark.

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "Even if by some miracle You stumble upon his sanctum, how much of Your blood are You content to spill? Do You have a plan to overcome Aeon's chain? Or will You throw Divine after Divine and watch Them risk death, as You did with Bal'met?"

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "And all the while your first and so very precious Celani rots in the Underworld. He is strong, but the howling screams of the Undead will hollow any soul in time."

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "You make your point."

The crowned ego of a half-Aldar met the solidified will of Divinity as silence hung heavy between the two.

Prospero, God of Wealth said at last, "You seem assured in Pazuzu's victory, and yet you sought Us. What is it you want?"

Black steel groaned within the ceaseless grasp of the Underworld's King as his mailed fist curled and clenched at his side. With a sibilant hiss, he finally resheathed his blade, turned his dark head from Prospero, and glanced down to a time-worn relic now held in his palm.

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "Peace. Quietude. This must end."

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "Why now?"

The flaming eyes of the Lord of Undeath dimmed to a quiescent smoulder as he looked down into his hands, where the ruby-encrusted diadem of Ugrach reflected their eerie light in synchronous red. Gripping the tool of his Father tightly, the half-Aldar yelled out in a moment of unrestrained rage and anger.

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "It was Your decree that shackled me to the Underworld, Merchant. I do not know if I will ever forgive that."

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "But those blighted depths are my Father's kin. They gave us a home where no one else would."

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "And now they are mine."

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "You could crumble before me, and I would not mourn. But Pazuzu seeks the destruction of All for the glory of one, no matter the price."

Gazing down again, Slith beheld his grim reflection in the blood rubies of the Finality's aeons-old relic.

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "I will not pay any price for it. So I will have a contract. A True Writing."

Idly pacing around the armoured form of Death's Demise, Lord Prospero hummed in audible thought, a wry smile returning to His good-natured face.

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "You will not be offered terms allowing you to wage a war against the Gods."

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "It will be you who is Bound. Not your father. It is past time you accounted for yourself, Slith."

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "I understand."

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "Sworn to an accord bound by My Authority, you will not be able to break it without dire consequence. Not doled out by Me nor any of My Siblings, but by Creation itself. It cannot be foregone."

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "I said I understand. I know the price. If You are to use one of Your so-precious decrees, then do it."

The Merchant Lord clapped His hands together once with a merry grin, scattering flecks of golden dust from His palms.

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "Then let us talk terms."

Swishing His arm through the eddying fog of Memory, the Lord of Wealth conjured forth a shimmering page of parchment writ in pitch-black ink and adorned in silvery leaf. A gilt quill coalesced in His hand as He leaned back against a cushion of air to review His contract, supported by naught but Divine Will.

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "What is it you offer, Slith, son of Ugrach and Ardael, crowned King of the Underworld?"

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "Betrayal."

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "Not enough. We'll need more, half-Aldar."

Slith, Lord of the Undead frowned and said, "I will remove the Golden Chain."

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "And?"

Slith, Lord of the Undead seethed and said, "The Pantheon fights well enough, and perhaps even advances. But You still require a larger army to properly storm Memory's depths. I will buy the Gods time to rally it."

Leaning forward expectantly, the God of Wealth smiled with a flicker of greed in His glimmering eyes.

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "And how, exactly, do you intend to do that without dying? I do not care about the cost of your life, but I am not a thief. Be aware what you are signing away."

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "I am well aware of the cost, and what it will take."

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "What is it you ask from Us?"

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "Solitude. The Divine will not seek retribution from me or mine, and leave the kingdom of Undeath to rule the Underworld. Alone."

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "You are owed death for your escape from that very place, Slith. You expect Twilight or Aurora to let that be?"

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "They will, or You will not have my betrayal to wholly turn this war."

Sourceless light glanced off a star-forged jewel upon Prospero's finger as He leisurely twisted one of His many rings in contemplation.

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "You will remove what claim you have made to the Prime Material Plane?"

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "We will withdraw in bulk. I will make no more claim that is not in keeping with manner and means of conquest. I believe Aegis would find that equitable, lest He lose forever a source of His War."

Jewels glimmer and gleam upon the fingers of the Elder God, His expression pensive and His brow cast heavy in trouble.

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "You will be returned to the Underworld and left there. But if you, Slith, are to step outside your blighted kingdom, Our contract will offer you no protection."

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "And should I be forced out? I am no fool to permit machination and scheme from the Pantheon against my own will."

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "Then the protections of an unwilling call will be ward. No more, no less."

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "Fine."

The Merchant Lord flicked His quill through the air and fresh script manifested upon the Divine parchment, scrawled in rich ink as black as the depths of Abbadon.

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "Let us strike our bargain. Our deal is-"

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "And I need the Equilibrium Gem."

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "What?"

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "To fulfil my end of the bargain, I need Daedalus' relic. And the aid of Aegis, Neraeos, Twilight, Valnurana, and Vastar."

Prospero blinked incredulously at Slith.

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "Quite the demand, half-Aldar."

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "If you want me to fully restrain Pazuzu, I will need assistance. This is not negotiable."

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "Why should We even countenance a surrender to you of the balancer? If you could even use it, which I find unlikely. It is not your father's diadem."

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "Use it? Proteus' tools are no longer sealed, no longer constrained."

A long moment passed, Wealth's eyes fixed on Slith's armoured visage.

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "The use to which you put it will be scribed in this Bargain, Slith. You will find no traction in an attempt to breach the accord to wield it against Us. Or anything else."

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "Yes."

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "And why those four Gods? Assuming that My eldest two Brothers you named can be convinced. They are, in the immediate, not personal signatories to this Bargain. And They will assuredly not agree to be bound to following your orders. If They are convinced, it will be on Their terms."

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "Do not ask questions to which You know the answers, Merchant. As I said, my father told me many things of the ancient eons."

Hesitation overtook the platinum eyes of Wealth's God as He leaned back again and sighed.

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "Told you too much, perhaps."

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "If this is a clause you seek added, then in return you will also retrieve Han-Tolneth from where he might lie. And I am sure you are aware that even My contract cannot restrain his Krenindalan friend from seeking vengeance if he is unduly damaged."

Slith, Lord of the Undead spat on the ground and said, "Always demanding more. I accept. If They help, I will return him. And let Their refusal, or not, be what risks angering the Dragonfather."

A wry grin lurked at the corner of the Elder God's mouth as with a flick of His quill in writing's mimicry He added an addendum to the gilded contract.

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "Let this end. Make your mark in blood, Slith, and this deal will be struck with Creation as witness."

A lone droplet fell upon the Golden Contract, staining it crimson as Creation stilled for but a breath.

Prospero, God of Wealth said, "It is bound and agreed upon."

Slith, Lord of the Undead said, "So it is."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Summary: Prospero, on behalf of the Pantheon, struck a Divine Bargain with Slith, Lord of the Undead. In exchange for betrayal against Pazuzu and a window for the Gods to rally Their army, Slith would be allowed to return to the Underworld to rule over his people.