Kuroshitsuji: Myriad
Prologue: Fallen Demon
"Why won't you tell me of Heaven?" the young demon brooded to his teacher.
"There is really no point in telling you about a place you shall never know, nor enter", she stated matter-of-factly.
"Why can I never know of it?" his crimson eyes glared at her.
"Because, my little lord, you were born AFTER the Expulsion and it was decreed that neither Lucifer nor his minions would be allowed into Paradise", she patiently explained, "Since you are a son of a minion, you have the grave misfortune of falling in with our judgement."
"But I didn't lose the Holy War", he emphasized.
"Yes, well we need to focus at the task at hand. Watching these humans, there are three from which I am sure we can forge a contract", she pointed at the scroll she had their names written on.
"First, is the young Egyptian princess Cleopatra, she would be divine!" the woman's eyes glew for a moment, "She has suffered greatly at the hands of her siblings and has been banished by her younger brother and sister, Ptolemy XIII and Arsinoe. "
"We would play on revenge and power to get her to contract with us", the boy leaned back in his chair.
"Good, now the second would be the Roman leader, Julius Gaius Caesar. It seems that he has made many enemies in Rome", she smiled.
"We would offer to help him achieve his greatest goal and offer protection from his enemies", the young boy seemed uninterested in him.
"Finally, there is Brutus, the leader of the secret rebellion aligning against Caesar", she mumbled. While it would still be a delectable soul, he did not seem as ambitious as the other two.
"We would play on his need for power and Caesar's destruction. With him we would need to be more cunning, so that we could take him as he rose to power!" the boy jumped up from his chair.
"Yes, my lord, but there runs the risk of cultivating and then he breath the contract", the woman warned, "He is not the type to do anything other than ensure his survival."
"So you're suggesting we go for either Caesar or Cleopatra?" the younger demon sounded bored.
"Of the two, which would you like to approach?" the woman kept moving her finger back and forth between Cleopatra and Caesar.
"I don't care", he mumbled.
"My lord, you must take this seriously, you must perform for your father to…"she began.
"Prove that I am worthy of the noble right bestowed upon me and allow other noble houses to see my right to someday become the Head", he rolled his eyes and pointed to the name of Caesar.
"Very well", the demoness whispered and promptly whisked her and her pupil away across the desert to Caesar's camp. There they waited for the opportune moment when the Roman leader showed a solitary moment of weakness. He called upon the help of the gods.
"I am not of the gods you call upon, but I shall answer you nonetheless", her voice was seductive and smooth.
"Who are you?" the frightened man reached for his sword. He held it ready as he heard the woman laugh.
"I am unknowable by nature, but you may call me…"she continued until he interrupted.
"Are you the dark goddess of the Greeks? The one they call Hecate?" Caesar walked toward the unearthly red cat-like eyes.
"I shall answer to whatever name you see fit, mighty Caesar", the demoness stepped out of the shadows.
"What can you offer me then, Hecate?" Caesar was weary of this being. He had been taught that the gods were tricky as they were kind.
"What do you seek, Caesar? Do you seek vengeance? Do you seek power?" her eyes were entrancing.
"I simply seek to make the world a better place", Caesar smiled as he finally lowered his sword.
"By the force of the Roman army? You have made many enemies, my lord…", she hinted. A small satisfactory grin reached her lips as his curiosity piqued.
"And you know their names, Hecate? Provide me their names and I shall end their disobedience with you as my guide", he was confident.
"I shall help you with your goal, but I do ask for a sacrifice as payment in return", she bared her fangs.
"And what would that be?" the emperor questioned. The gods always demanded high payment.
"Your soul, milord", Hecate whispered hiding her glowing eyes.
"My soul? And just what would you want with my soul? You want to cross Pluto?" the man laughed for a brief moment before he saw the glowing red eyes.
"Humans have no use for it, while I survive on it", she growled, "I hardly believe Pluto would miss one soul."
"Ah, you're a demon then, not a goddess", he became confident once more, "You lied."
"You only assumed I was the goddess Hecate", the demoness laughed, "I never said I was, I simply said that I would answer to whatever name you saw fit."
"I have no use for your tricks", Caesar held up his sword once more and charged towards the cloaked figure that had been wasting his time. With a swing of his sword he noticed she had disappeared.
"Well that ended lovely", the young boy hissed during their travel.
"Well once in a while they fight back", the woman stopped on the edge of another camp.
"Where are we?" the boy huffed.
"The outskirts of Egypt on the edge of Cleopatra's camp", the woman whispered as she began weaving through the tents.
"Tezrian!" the boy called after her and was quickly shut up by her hand over his mouth.
"We cannot use our true names here, Samael, otherwise we would be bound to the humans. It would be humiliating", she hissed.
They reached the tent that Cleopatra was said to be concealed in. Tezrian used the same approach but received a different answer.
"I don't want only revenge on my family but on Rome as well", the princess sneered.
"We have a contract?" the demoness stuck out her hand.
"What does it entail?" Cleopatra questioned. If she were to sell her soul, she needed assurance that it would be worth it in the end.
After seventeen years, Tezrian had helped her mistress accomplish much. She had first helped the princess get into Egypt so that she could plead her case to Caesar and win the throne back. By doing this she created a civil war and thus fed some of her fellow demons as well as herself and Samael. She then helped the newly appointed queen get rid of her siblings, first both of the Ptolemys and then Arsinoe. She took out their advisor as well. During this time Samael had gone against Tezrian's wishes and made a contract with Brutus. The Roman had done as his teacher had thought and cancelled the contract right before slaying the emperor, but he enjoyed his revenge while fighting in Octavian's army and being the one to behead the human. Tezrian had helped create the war between Antony and Octavian by feeding the need for Antony's support to Cleopatra. The only problem was Tezrian allowed Cleopatra to dissolve the contract after Marc Antony's death, and the queen later committed suicide. Samael had sensed that his teacher had broken the cardinal rule and became attached to the Egyptian queen. The truth came out at a hearing in Hell upon their return.
Samael was no longer a young boy, but a man. He looked to be in his twenties with jet black hair and crimson eyes. He stood beside his father, Semiazas, a prince of Hell, as the proceedings began. On the other side of the hall stood Tezrian's father, Melcholm, the treasurer of Hell. He seemed eager to cast his only child out of Hell. What was strange though, was Lucifer himself was in charge of the hearing. Their sovereign rarely attended such trivial persecutions, but for some reason he was made the judge.
"Tezrian of the House of Melcholm, the "War Mongering" demon, you have been charged with allowing an inappropriate relationship between yourself and a human, bringing shame to your household and causing doubt amongst your superiors. What say you to these charges?" Lucifer set down the papers.
"I accept full responsibility and ask that my charge, Samael of the House of Semiazas, be free of my scandalous behavior", Tezrian bowed her head.
It was strange to see the once proud demoness so helpless, Samael cursed himself inwardly for not standing beside his mentor.
"Tezrian, I find it hard to believe that you willingly allowed a mortal woman to outsmart you in the bid for her soul", Lucifer threw the paperwork at the woman before him, "You, who was once a high ranking officer and one of my greatest soul collectors due to your warring ways."
"The civil war you caused in Egypt, the ones you caused in Rome, were beautifully executed and allowed for many of our kind to be fed", Semiazas interjected, "So why spare the ONE soul?"
"SILENCE!" the dark prince screamed, "I am the one interrogating her!"
"I understand your concerns, but my actions were my own. I would not expect any of my fellow demons to understand", Tezrian looked defiantly in Lucifer's eyes, "Please give me my punishment as you deem fit."
The hall was silent where the hearing was taking place. No one dared to even whisper about this demon's openly disobedience to their sovereign. It seemed like eternity before Lucifer spoke again.
"Tezrian of the House of Melcholm, you are hereby stripped of any titles you have acquired in our realm. You shall be called Alexandra, henceforth, due to your affinity for humans. You are to walk the earth until the End of Days and ANY demon who makes contact with you shall suffer the same fate. On the End of Days is when your fate will be decided", he commanded, "Such reverence for humans…you should have stayed on the Lord's side."
Tezrian looked to her father and saw the shame he felt. She looked towards Samael and his father, with the elder of the two having turned his back, and her former pupil simply lingering.
"If it pleases the Court, I would like to escort Tez…Alexandra to the human realm", Samael announced aloud.
"Do as you wish", Lucifer still sat in his chair almost in disbelief. He had never had to banish one of his demons from Hell before, especially not one of his most prized.
Tezrian closed her eyes to keep the blood tears from falling down her face. She didn't understand why her pupil would be willing to walk with her to the other realm.
Samael gave her a small smile and ushered her out of the hall. His father on his heels.
"Did you not hear what the Sovereign decreed?" the elder demon demanded.
"Indeed I did, Father, but I am sure he meant that once she reached the other realm then her punishment begins", Samael assured. He smiled as his father growled and walked away.
"Why are you doing this?" the demoness quietly whispered as they made their way to earth.
"Of all my tutors, you were the only one who was patient enough to teach me. I learned to be cunning, to be aware of my surroundings, to have and gain honor. You are my mentor", Samael explained, "You have taught me to be a fine demon indeed."
"So why my folly?" Tezrian laughed. She couldn't help it due to the expression on his face, "We spent seventeen years together on earth for the sake of one soul. We started three wars and collected all but the soul of the woman I contracted. You find it odd when I voice your thoughts aloud?"
"Why did you allow her to break the contract so easily?" Samael was confused, surely she could have talked her into keeping it.
"Cleopatra was ambitious and she was hell bent on getting what she wanted. Her soul would have been as ambrosia, but…" Tezrian paused, "She wanted me by her side in the end. She wanted her faithful demon, her only friend."
"You'd grown attached", the male demon concluded as he sat down on a giant rock near where they would part, "But it is to be expected after seventeen years."
"The greatest lesson you can learn from this is that you do not take too long to cultivate a soul", Tezrian smiled, "Goodbye, Samael."
She disappeared into the night, he never heard from her, but he heard whispers and rumors about her. He assumed she eventually died from starvation. He had heard that she had quit taking human souls to feed upon. He had never truly known what was said between the demoness and the queen on that fateful night, but it was the downfall of the great Tezrian of the House of Melcholm.
Sebastian shook the thoughts of his former mentor from his head as he continued to prepare breakfast for his master. It was odd that her memory would come to mind after all these centuries, but he was getting close to the time limit he set up for himself on his contracts. He was also preoccupied with the thoughts of his master hiring a new maid. Supposedly she was going to be more efficient than Mei-Rin. The master had assured him that she would be acceptable and harmless in regards to their situation. He inwardly rolled his eyes at the thought of someone smarter than the three handpicked buffoons he acquired. He knew they would ask no questions and therefore their uselessness could be overlooked. He looked at the clock, five minutes until 6AM. He had to wake the master and prepare him for the arrival of the new maid.
He opened the curtains in Ciel Phantomhive's room and announced to the young earl that it was time to get up.
"Don't forget, master, today is when the maid you hired arrives", Sebastian tried not to sound annoyed but failed miserably.
"Are you still cross with my decision, Sebastian?" Ciel mocked.
"If my master sees no foul in hiring another maid when we already have one .." the butler emphasized.
"Yes well, Mei-Rin is not exactly 'capable' at being a maid, now is she", the Earl sneered as his butler began buttoning his shirt, "I think you'll quite like this maid."
A few minutes later Ciel ordered his breakfast delivered to his office. As soon as Sebastian delivered the Earl's meal he went to the door and was surprised to see a carriage pulling off. He looked around and noticed a small figure with its back turned, giggling.
"I bet your pardon, but…" his voice left him as a familiar face turned to greet him.
"I'm sorry but I have a 'thing' for cats", she smiled without opening her eyes.
"Tezrian?" he whispered.
The woman dropped the cat and finally opened her crimson colored eyes. She stood for a brief moment before gathering her wits, "I have not been called that in many a century, Samael. Please call me Alexandra as it was decreed."
When she didn't hear his response she realized he was bowed down in front of her. She quickly made him stand up and asked him to act as he was supposed to in her presence. He slightly nodded and gestured for her to follow him.
'Interesting indeed', he mused to himself as he thought of his little master.