Prologue
Into the shadows
A
shadowy figure stared out across the land in witch he is forced to
rule. A blackened landscape scared by rivers of blood and forest of
whipping trees. Doors are scattered in random places leading to
'unique' punishments for Hells special residents. The smell of
blood and death poisoned the air as the screams of pain and anguish
crying from the mouths of the doomed echoed in his skull. It was the
place feared by all believers and hated by all that were forced to
reside here. Yes, even Lucifer hated Hell. Why shouldn't he, being
cast down from Paradise and locked in the place were nightmares and
horrors are born. All for not bowing to someone who created nothing
but pieces of filth!
A
low moaning drew the attention, but not his gaze of the Dark Lord, to
the woman behind him. Riana, his daughter, drew her fingers across
her lips as she gave another moan, a seductive smile drawing across
her face. Her face was soft and gave the slight look of innocence;
her hair was like silk and her hair as dark as the night sky. Her
body, although slender, was well equipped with wide hips and large
chest. "Father," she said in a seductively sweet voice. "You
look so down. May be I could help with that, hmmm?" she rose and
took her time going to him swaying hr hips knnowing that the can
sense every movement. The only thing she had on was a very reveling
leotard and a see though robe, although Lucifer took no notice of
this with his back still turned. When she was behind him, she ran her
hands and her body up his back and felt his rigid muscles. Using his
shoulders as support, she lifted her shelf to reach the ear of the
tall man and gave it several licks and a nibble.
"Riana."
came the low rumbling of his voice. "Remember your
place."
"But,
daddy." Her hand ran across his face. "I just want to play."
Every part of his face was built like a wall and was as blank as one,
a sharp chin and cheek bones set the foundation for a slightly rugged
beard and hair. But his eyes. She turned his head so she could meet
his eyes. That was her mistake.
Once
his gaze met hers, she went rigged, her face contorting with the look
of true fear. Her heart, racing and pounding, felt like it was going
to erupt from her chest. Nightmares of every fear and every disaster
came alive in her mind, their force bringing her to her knees,
shaking and tears poring from her eyes, wanting to scream but unable
to ether take a breath nor to remove her eyes from the hold of the
gaze nor release herself from his shoulders.
But
she did not need to for he grabbed her by the neck and tossed her
across the room like a rag doll. "I told you, know you place." he
said with a deeper tone that echoed on the walls and with that, he
removed eyes allowing her relax and wipe her tears away.
She rose
and composed herself as best she could, but was unable to stop
herself shaking.
"Forgive me." She said. "I thought only to raise your spirits."
"There is no reason to do that." he said bringing his tone to normal. "My nervousness will pass on its own."
A smile crossed her face. "Are we close?"
"Yes."
Like a delighted child, she beamed at him and said. "Does that mean..."
"Yes." He said with a simple chuckle.
"Tell me again, about what will happen."
A smile creped on his face as he said, "Once this plan is complete, all of the disgusting earth dwellers will bow down to their rightful masters! And we will live in the sun light and dance in the moon's rays!" his happiness was cut short as the door to his camber door was opened. "I said not to dis-"he stopped seeing who it was. "Oh, my son, come in."
His son, Mammon, was almost a mirror reflection of his father in facial features but he had a bit more tone and was wearing a patch over his left eye. "Forgive me father. "He said deep voice. "But we've encountered a problem with the plan."
The air around Lucifer began to distort and his body tensed, if Razar was looking at him in the eyes, it would have possibly killed him, "How big of a problem?" he said with ever growing rage.
"We had to abort." He said barely keeping his voice calm.
Lucifer turned and seeming to fly grabbed Razar by the collar of his black plate armor and lifted him in the air like he was nothing. "Why?" he roared, the air in the room shimmering like a heat wave.
Choking past the fear rushing though him, Razar said "The a-angels intervened and s-stopped our a-attack."
"Don't give me that! We both know that as long as we don't harm pure hearts the angles can't touch us."
"That's just it, father. One of our own attempted to harm the target."
Hearing that it wasn't his son who was at fault, he let his feet touch the ground but kept firm grip on him. "Who? Bring him to me!"
"I thought you would like to see him." he said with a sly grin. "So, I brought him to you." he snapped his fingers and the chamber doors opened reveling two demons, lizard like beasts with two wicked looking horns and razor sharp teeth. Between them they carried a heavily beaten man. Upon entering the room, he was thrown forward to land on his face.
"Accursed beasts, I'll get you yet." Marale's appearance was of that of a frail man, too weak to carry even his full body weight. Wearing the apparel similar to a big business man he looked the part of a rich full that would have tried to buy his way into Heaven. Which he did. He dusted himself off, sneering at the two demons behind him, and turned to face Lucifer. His expression changed from anger, to surprise, then quickly to amusement. "Well well, if it isn't the Dark Lord himself, what a pleasant surprise." he said with a mocking voice and gave a pathetic bow.
"HOW
DARE YOU!" Lucifer grabbed the man by the tuff of his short,
black hair and hurled him across the room to the balcony were Lucifer
was once standing. He approached the injured man and shouted, "We
were so close to the goal. but you had to go and ruin it." he
punctuated the last word with a kick so hard that lifted him off the
ground and nearly sent him over the edge before Lucifer caught him by
his foot, allowing him to dangle over a vortex of nothingness nearly
20 stories down, "Any last words?" Lucifer said with a smile
of pure joy and evil.
"Yes," he said all too calmly.
"I'm going to enjoy killing you the most." before Lucifer
could respond, Marale kicked out with his free foot causing Lucifer
to release him. And then he did a most unusual thing as he fell, he
laughed. As the frail man fell to almost certain death, he laughed
like he just won a victory over the Dark Lord.
Lucifer wasn't sure what just happened. The vortex below leads to the pit of true evil. No being entered it and came out alive, or died quietly. No being should laugh about being thrown into that. But what shocked him even more was that when Marale approached it, it seamed to reach out and absorb him in to itself. And Marale didn't give so much as a peep. This scared Lucifer even more than it angered him. Could there be something going on in his own kingdom that he doesn't know about? And if so, what?
"Father?" The voice of his son released him from his thoughts. He turned to the others standing behind him. Only the demons with their stone set faces were free from the look of shock the other two shared. Lucifer quickly regained himself and set his face back into its normal blank expression. "Leave me." He said, "I need to think."
With a quick bow, they left him to his thoughts. With them gone, he returned to the balcony and turned his gaze upward. With a wave of his hand he conjured an image of the only thing that could make him happy, a starry night sky. Why shouldn't he, he was the one who helped create it.
But something caught his attion that made the happiness fade away, the aligning of the planets. Although now it wasn't a perfect aligning, within several years it would be. Being the one who created the event, he couldn't help but to wonder, what omen would this bring. Good or bad?