Demons Above and Demons Below
Chapter 1
The moon is full over the town of Dal'goth on a midsummer eve. Barely a sound escapes the darkness, this is a town of thieves and murders, to all outside, this is Hell on earth. Figures move within the shadows of every alleyway and every rooftop, beings on dark missions of theft and murder. Betrayal flows like the life blood of the city, no one is innocent, no one is free. This is where the first of ten imps appears, skittering from the shadows towards an ancient cemetery. Necromancer's had been coming to this city for ages, practicing their dark arts and spilling vile magics into the very earth. This was the single most unholy of places on the entire face of the planet. This was the imp's target.
Slipping through the iron bars of the cemetery gate, the small creature starts to cackle softly in eager anticipation of the work to come. In its taloned left hand a small parchment is clutched, the right holds a vial with a simple cork stopper. A long tongue snakes out of the creatures' mouth to wrap around the cork, sharp dagger like teeth bite into the material and with a vicious tug the cork is removed. Very carefully the beast places the cork right beside the vial, then unrolls the parchment. As the beast begins to read the parchment in the language of demons a black sludge-like material begins to seep out of the very earth and the nearby tombstones. Caught up in its incantation the imp almost doesn't notice the sludge until it is to late.
More and more of the viscous material pours forth from the ground as the spell is completed and the imp quickly skitters backwards, careful to take the vial and the cork along. Finally a full minute later the sludge quits flowing and begins to form up into a vaguely humanoid shape, with a gurgling moan it lurches forwards to try and attack the imp. Cackling maniacally at the pure aura of evil radiating from the creature the imp raises the vial and begins another incantation quickly. The vial seems to grow, and the world grows dark around it as everything, even the very light seems to be sucked within, the imp however is unaffected and merely tips the vial towards the creature. Howling in rage the creature is quickly sucked inside the small vial and the stopper is replaced. "Master will be pleased" The imp hisses before slipping back into the darkness to return to the realm of Valgoth, Demon Lord of the eighth level of the Abyss.
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Halfway around the world sits another town, Ilum, reputed to be the gem of the civilized world. Here priests of every good religion come to honor their gods, great cathedrals have been built to all of the goodly deities and the very ground within the entire city walls has been blessed by at least 5 priests of every god honored in the city. The imp hiding here was under the most powerful protections Valgoth had been able to find. Centuries had been spent preparing this particular little beast for his task, Finally the sun begins to go down, the shadows deepen within the temple to Zeus and the imp skitters slowly forward dragging a vial with a stopper in it and a scrap of parchment along.
When the shadows finally cover the altar used for sacrifices to the god of lightning the little imp places the vial upon the altar and pops the cork, then begins his own incantation, this one in the language of the angels which burned its tongue with every syllable. As the last of the incantation is finished something that can only be described as liquid light begins to pour forth from the stone of the altar, building into a humanoid form just above the vial. As quickly as the creature forms though it is sucked into the vial, shrieking in protest. Very nervously the imp stoppers the vial and slips it into a pouch made of black dragon skin. "Bah.. hate this place" the little beast mutters as it slips into the shadows quickly, very anxious to be away from this holy ground and back before Valgoth. Especially before the spells of protection wear off and the holy ground starts to incinerate the beast.
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Similar events are occurring all across the heavenly and hellish realms. Elysium, Valhalla, The upper levels of hell, even Limbo. All of them are having a small piece of their very essence stolen, bottled and delivered to Valgoth. When the final imp arrives at last in the great Demon Lord's fortress he can't help but cackle in delight. "Seven hundred years of planning, finally brought to fruition. You have done well my servants" Valgoth sneers. The brute's face resembled a canines more than anything, long snout and a maw filled with rows of dagger like teeth that hide an equally long tongue. More than anything else about his physical appearance it was Valgoths' eyes that unnerved other demons the most, they were not glowing red beads of hatred, but black emotionless things that seemed to just drink in all light.
Long tendrils of spittle dangle from Valgoths' toothy maw as he steps down from the throne of human bones and flesh. Moving across the bloody audience chamber on all fours his long taloned hands and feet click against the bleached bones of hundreds of skeletons. The ten imps back away from the vials and parchments nervously, all of them worried that their reward will be to serve as one of Valgoths' meals. Grinning viciously Valgoth scoops up all ten of the vials in a single massive hand then rises up on his hind legs like a man would, easily towering over the imps at twelve feet tall. "Very well done my pets" he hisses then nods towards the far wall of the chamber where a small alcove had suddenly opened to reveal another room, inside were several young human maidens, chained to the floor and very much awake. "Feast my pets, you have more than earned your flesh this night"
The little beasts all squeal in unison and take off across the bloody bone strewn floor like they had not been fed in months. Valgoth only grins all the broader as the screams of the women fill his audience hall, he loved the sound of women being eaten alive. Staring at the ten small vials in his hand he whispers softly "Soon you will have life my Bane. Soon you will march forth, the perfect soldier in my demonic horde, able to enter the very Heavens at will and slaughter the gods all for my glory. The first Demon to walk all of the planes at will... You will be the instrument of my ascension." Cackling hysterically Valgoth stores the vials underneath his throne of bone and flesh, then tears across the chamber to gather the necessary spell reagents. This very night Bane would be born.
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Far above the dark reaches of the Abyss another meeting was taking place. On the grounds of Limbo two gods were about to meet for the first time in the history of their religions and their followers did not even know what was happening. Zeus is the first to appear, floating in on a cloud with a bolt of lightning in each hand, the young looking King of Olympus glances around the meeting area for any traps. Spotting nothing out of the ordinary he steps forth from the cloud, striding across the gray earth of Limbo towards the twin boulders they were to meet at.
Just as Zeus was taking his seat upon one of the boulders a second figure appears on the edge of the gray sky, riding forth in a viking longboat with many of Valhalla's greatest warriors serving as his oarsmen Odin approaches. The self proclaimed All-father of the northmen steps forth from the longboat onto the other boulder and glares at Zeus, his right hand playing with the mighty war hammer Mjolnir that hangs at his side. Soon the weapon was meant to be given to his youngest son, Thor, as a gift.
The two mighty rulers of their pantheon's simply stare at each other for a long moment before Zeus finally speaks "I have called this meeting to see if you will join me to prevent the coming of a great evil Odin. The council has.... forbidden my acting alone. To do so would destroy Olympus." The young god's voice seems very disturbed to the grizzled older looking Odin, his reply is that of a warrior "Bah, I fear not the coming of any evil. Let it grow and fester until it may pose a real challenge and then shall I face it! I will not have mine honor dragged through the mud by the fears of some Olympian!" Zeus narrows his eyes squeezing both hands around the the lightning bolts there but manages to hold back his rage "This evil may very well destroy everything we have built over the last eons, the Fates have foretold this" Odin merely laughs and stands summoning the longboat back to him "Act out of cowardice if you must Zeus but I will hear no more of this talk. Let them come and all of Asgard will be ready!" laughing heartily Odin bids the crew to bear him away from this pitiful god who fears the future.
Zeus only stares after the shrinking longboat, his rage at Odin's foolishness was obvious but simple rage would not avail him here. A battle between Olympus and Asgard would only leave both weakened when this newest horror of the Abyss was unleashed. Zeus would simply have to wait, unless he could find the evidence he needed to make Odin see the light.