Dorian Faustus Ch. 2
Dorian warily followed Sephiroth through the wasteland. He wasn't sure what this Devil's intentions were, but for now, Dorian thought it was safer to travel with Sephiroth. However, the present circumstances did not stop Dorian's curiosity, and he finally got enough courage to speak to his savior. "Um… Sephiroth? Isn't that the name of the ten spheres god created, according to the Cabala?" Sephiroth smirked, and replied, "So, you are at least somewhat knowledgeable in divine matters. To answer your question, yes it is. I changed my name to Sephiroth when I was cast out of Heaven as a form of sacrilege. For you see, I am an angel of destruction and conflict, and in the Cabala, the Sephiroth are the guiding lights, bringing a person's soul closer to their god. I do the opposite; I drag sinners to the foul depths of Hell." Dorian was somewhat taken back by the sudden venom in Sephiroth's voice. "I take it you have a grudge against god then?" Dorian asked quietly. Sephiroth snorted and said, "My punishment was undeserved. I did not rebel, I merely agreed with Lucifer. We should not have to bow to humans. We were the first creations of god. Humans should respect us, not have us worship them. You see Dorian, we Devils are not the dark beings portrayed in your world. There were the foolish among us, the bastard Prince Mundus, and the traitor Argosax. Those wretches permanently made us evil in the eyes of humans. If not for the Dark Knight Sparda, Armageddon would have happened long ago." Dorian thought for a moment. He finally said, "Why couldn't one of you Devil Lords remove the threats? With all the power you seem to command, wouldn't it have been easy for you?" Sephiroth stopped walking, turned toward Dorian, and said, "It is much more complex than that. Lucifer and the Devil Lords are not allowed on earth. If we set foot on there, God and his angels will correct the problem by starting an amazing war, to eradicate all of us. Two powerful Devils, Argosax and Mundus, finally found a loop-hole. In order to postpone Armageddon, Lucifer sent one of the Devil Knights, currently fighting under Mundus, into the world. This Devil, who rebelled against his own kind to save humans, was named Sparda. For some reason, Lucifer shares Sparda's compassion towards humans. In Sparda's time, he managed to drive away many demons that went rogue with Argosax and Mundus. The powers of heaven and hell were at peace, for a time. Then, one of Sparda's children, a half- demon named Vergil, tried to acquire his father's power. By attempting this, he unsealed great evil. However, the other son of Sparda, Vergil's twin brother Dante, took on the role of his father, and protected humanity from the rogue powers of Hell. He has hunted Devils for several years. Lucifer greatly favors Dante, but has never been able to speak with him. Now then, we must hurry, Lucifer wishes to speak with you, and it is best we don't keep him waiting any longer." Sephiroth turned and began walking away. "Wait, I want to hear more," yelled Dorian. Sephiroth lifted his hand and began collecting light around it. He then pushed forward, and a strange vortex opened in front of them. "I know this must be fascinating to a human, and I am sure you will hear more. Lucifer enjoys talking to humans, so undoubtedly he will explain more to you. But for now, we must be going. Step into the void first, I will join you shortly." Dorian did not hesitate. He stepped through the doorway of light. As if there was not anything there, Dorian instantly stepped into a new area. Looking back, he saw the vortex was still open, and he saw the charred wasteland that he was just in. Looking around the new area, he saw it was a wonderful place, pristine and white. Dorian was on another floating island, this one apparently made out of white marble. All around him, there were amazing statues and buildings, many of them seemed to be from Greek and Roman times. When Dorian took a closer look at one building that caught his eye, he saw that it was, in fact, a Greek temple. It was the Parthenon, but not like Dorian remembered seeing it. This Parthenon seemed to have just been built, and it radiated power. Dorian walked towards it, seeing the lost statue of Athena inside. Suddenly, a hand grabbed Dorian's shoulder. "You like it? Throughout history, people have built such wonders to their Pagan gods. The Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians built many structures. In your world, their glory has been lost to the sands of time. However, in this world, these beauties are preserved as they were first built." Sephiroth looked at Dorian and smiled. "My wife especially enjoys these structures, seeing as many of them were built to her. I guess many of us Lords can be quite vain. Come, the greatest structure is still ahead of us." Dorian followed Sephiroth's gaze and looked across a great chasm to a magnificent palace. It gleamed like the sun, but in a way that didn't blind Dorian. Just as Dorian was wondering how he could get across the chasm, Sephiroth walked towards the island's edge. As he approached, large segments of rock flew out of the void, and landed under Sephiroth's feet, making what seemed to be a bridge. "Come Dorian, we are not much farther." Dorian eagerly ran to catch up with Sephiroth, amazed at all the things he was seeing. "And if I didn't kill myself, I wouldn't have known about any of this," thought Dorian. Sephiroth and Dorian continued walking, and more segments kept adding to the bridge, until Dorian Stood with Sephiroth before a great golden door. "Within these walls lies the throne of Lucifer. Inside, you will meet the other Devil Lords. Some of them, such as Archanfel and Sammael, are very opposed to your presence here. However, you need not worry. Lucifer will protect you. With that knowledge, let us enter this palace, so that Lucifer may grant you a new life." Sephiroth raised his hand, lightly pressed on the door, and they swung open, showering the two of them with radiant light. As the light faded, Dorian wondered what Sephiroth meant by new life. When Dorian looked, he was in a large, grandly decorated hall. At the end there was a magnificent throne, and on each side there were five smaller thrones. In nine of the thrones were seated strange, radiant beings. One of the thrones directly to the left of the central grand throne was empty. Sephiroth Flew forward, and sat in the empty throne. Dorian looked at each of these strange creatures, and noticed that Sephiroth held the hand of a dark haired beauty that sat next to him. Must be his wife. Lucky bastard. Suddenly, she spoke to Dorian. "Thank you for thinking that human. It is nice to have my beauty appreciated." Dorian tried to blank his mind as he realized his thoughts were open to these beings. "Dorian, come forward," a strange voice commanded from the center throne. It was kind, yet Dorian felt he should rush to do as he was asked. Dorian walked for ward quickly, staring intently at the being in front of him. As amazing as the other Lords looked, Lucifer was far beyond them. He was amazingly beautiful, with curly, golden hair, and golden eyes. He wore robes of the purest white, and he shone with light, something none of the other Lords did. Suddenly, one of the lords leaned forward and said contemptuously, "Lucifer, how can you allow a creature as lowly as this into your palace? Surely there are more reliable servants we can call upon!" Dorian looked at the Lord, and saw his emerald eyes narrow in dislike. Another of the Lords, one with white hair and lighter green eyes said, "I agree with Sammael. Lucifer, there must be some other way to go about dealing with this problem." One of the Lords stood up. He appeared to be a very old man, with a long white beard. "Archanfel, Sammael, I suggest you silence yourselves and allow the master to speak." Lucifer raised a hand, instructing them all to sit down and calm themselves. Then, he spoke. "Dorian, I have been waiting for you ever since we found out you attempted suicide. Please do not interrupt me, as I will explain why the events that led you to commit suicide happen, and why your presence here is so important. Let us begin. My spies on earth tell me that a group of angels have gone rogue, and are trying to take this world as their own. We still do not know who leads them, but it was this group that caused you so much torment. Their plans were to use you to bring their armies to earth. However, the plan backfired. The person that killed Christine was actually possessed by a rogue angel. This kind of possession is permanent. He is also the same one who murdered your family. The plan was to make you turn to these angels for help enacting revenge. They did not realize you would kill yourself instead. You see, Dorian, you are a strange being, capable of wielding tremendous power. The angels wanted your power to open the gate for them. You could have done this because your soul is rare. At the time, you were the only living person whose soul was tainted with Chaos. This made you exactly what the angels needed. I see you would like to ask a question. Go ahead." Dorian was slightly taken back. He asked anyway. "What do you mean when you say my soul is infected with Chaos?" Lucifer Stood up, raising one hand. A flash of light burst from it, and the landscape changed. Suddenly, they were in a sea of darkness. Lucifer spoke again. "The answer to your question lies in this very realm. Before heaven and hell, before all else was Chaos. From Chaos, the earth was born. God has been around as long as Chaos and he continued creating life with Chaos. The ancient Greeks knew part of the truth. In the beginning, Chaos was balanced, neither good nor evil. When I was cast out of heaven, I and the others fell into the Chaos realm. Because of my power, Chaos did not affect me. Instead, I absorbed it, and gained new power. Slowly, I cultivated Hell out of the Power of Chaos. The souls of the wicked are sent to be punished here, as we were. However, not all souls are punished. Those who follow me are rewarded. Likewise, not believing in god does not deserve punishment, so those souls are sent to live on one of the islands you saw. Anyway, back to Chaos. As I said before, Chaos was neither bad nor good, until humanity as a whole shifted. You see, human souls are born from Chaos, and so are tied to it. When most of the world is evil, Chaos becomes evil. As this evil spread, more and more creatures began running rampant. The weak angels that fell with us began becoming corrupted, turning into the hideous demons you saw. Soon, Chaos began spawning dark monsters, in a sad attempt to right the world. With this new group of rogue angels, Chaos has come to one conclusion. All life on earth must be destroyed, infusing Chaos once again with fresh life- force, so new, better life can be created. I'm sorry, I digress. To answer your question, your soul is tainted with Chaos because it was born from a strange part of the Chaos realm. It was born from Chaos' sentient part, and this happens very rarely. This means your soul could be the key to opening a bridge between worlds. The angels sought to exploit that. However, you landed with us instead. Now, the question currently brewing in your mind can also be addressed. What we need from you is to return to the world of the living, and help us stop this new threat to the earth. As you probably already know, we are not allowed to enter the world ourselves. Therefore, if you accept my offer, we will bring you back with new power, the power to enact your revenge, and to stop the destruction. Now, Dorian, I have a great favor to ask you. Will you accept my offer?" Dorian was reeling from all this new knowledge. He dully shook his head yes, and asked, "How do you plan on bringing me back to life?" Lucifer chuckled. "When you killed yourself, I had one of my agents keep your body alive. Well, not quite. He tricked the people who found you into thinking you had a pulse, so they have you in the emergency room of a hospital. We plan to resurrect you by infusing you with the sentient Chaos energy." Dorian was apprehensive. "How do you know this will work?" Lucifer frowned. "I must admit, none of us know the true extent of the power that Chaos holds. We are unsure what will happen to you. We know that you will be greatly strengthened, but we are not sure if you will be corrupted, or if you will retain your human form. You see, this has never been done to a human before. However, I am fairly certain it will work. Please Dorian, we don't have many options, and you are everyone's best chance." Dorian closed his eyes, remembering all the horrors he witnessed. Sorrow and a burning rage flooded Dorian. If nothing else, he wanted to destroy those responsible for his torment. Dorian opened his eyes. "I accept, on one condition. Can you bring Christine back to life?" Lucifer looked at him for a moment. Finally, he answered, "I can, but I am not sure what would happen. The last time someone was resurrected, the man only came back because he opened his heart to the darkness of Chaos, and was brought back as a fiend of the night, a demon in human form who sustained his dark existence on the blood of mortals. I will see what I can do, but I do not want another such creature made to plague the earth." Dorian did not like the answer, but said, "Very well, bring me back so I can stop these angels." Without another word, Lucifer carefully approached Dorian. Red and black light began gathering around them, and Lucifer grabbed Dorian's wrists, holding tightly to the deep cuts. Suddenly, Dorian felt an icy energy burn through his body. The feeling intensified until Dorian could take no more. He saw Lucifer look stunned, and then darkness.
†
"Doctor, the patient seems to be convulsing!" a nurse yelled as she noticed the patient begin to spasm. His life signs were fluctuating drastically. The doctor ran over, but stopped completely when he noticed a strange phenomenon. The patient seemed to be glowing with an ominous red light. Suddenly, the body flew out of the hospital bed, floating before them. The pale face lifted in their direction, and the eyes flashed open. They were burning with this awful red light. As the doctor watched, the patient was surrounded by an orb of black and red light. A strange roaring filled the room, and a foul wind was whipping papers and other objects around the room. The doctor tried to look into the orb of darkness. He could dimly see a strange outline. It seemed oddly shaped, taller. Suddenly, the darkness dissipated. The doctor looked with horror at the being that stood before him. "My god…" the doctor whispered as he began backing away. A Piercing, inhuman shriek emanated from the beast, and the doctor doubled over as a ray of bloody light burned through his stomach.
†
As Dorian regained consciousness, he was acutely aware of a horrible pain wracking his body. It was not so intense that he could not get up, so he cracked open his eyes, and observed his new location. He did not see the strange contorted world of Hell. Instead, he saw a familiar setting, though he did not know where he remembered it. Turning around, Dorian saw a damaged stained glass window. Suddenly, he knew where he was. The strange church he accidently walked into what seemed like ages ago. The ruined window was where "Chaos embodied" was shown. Since Dorian's exploits in Hell, that name had a dark relevance emanating from it. He now knew that this ruined church was once a place to worship Chaos, and the dark creatures that spawned from it. Dorian looked down at the fragments of glass, and was surprised to see the clothing he was in. He now wore silver armored boots, black pants, a black shirt, black gloves, and a tattered black cape. Most surprising of all was the strange silver gauntlet that now covered his left arm from the elbow down. The gauntlet ended in slender clawed fingertips. "Where did all this come from?" Dorian said out loud. His wrists began burning, and he heard the voice of Lucifer speaking to him. "Well Dorian, it seems as though your resurrection was a success. As for the new clothing, this must have been something your mind created while you were still unconscious. Using the massive ambient Chaos energies in Hell, you were able to craft clothing from it. The metal is silver, but indestructible and perpetually sharp, as a result of being made from Chaos. You have much to accomplish. I will leave you now. Go, and begin your mission." The burning vanished from Dorian's wrists. Unstrapping the right leather glove, Dorian was able to see that his wrists were healed. Instead of a scar, however, Dorian found a strange symbol. It seemed to be a large, upside down triangle with an x through it. At the bottom point, the lines curled somewhat through a small v shape. Dorian made a mental note to look up this strange symbol the first chance he got. But for now, he needed regular clothes to blend in with society. As though his thoughts somehow triggered something, the clothes disappeared. In their place were regular street clothes. "This Chaos energy does seem very interesting. I will enjoy experimenting; see if I could realize its full potential." With that thought, Dorian left the crumbling church, walking in the direction of the mall. Perhaps he could find some clues there.
†
Dante was lazing around in his chair when he heard someone running towards his shop. He reached down and picked up Ebony. However, he saw his caution was unnecessary, as it was only Trish. She seemed distressed. "Dante, you have to see this," She said as she quickly walked over to a small TV they got only recently. Turning it on, she said, "It seems like a new demon has shown his face." Dante watched, interested, as there was a news report. It seemed that a hospital was blown apart, the remains covered in a strange red and black light. He listened to the reporter. "Any attempts to analyze the glowing material on the hospital ruins have lead in the instant death of whoever attempted to touch it. One moment please. It appears we have managed to find a video taken by a pedestrian, revealing what happened to this place. We will now chow you the video." After a brief pause, a new video was broadcast. At first, it showed a couple guys joking around, but not long after, an explosion was heard. The camera turned towards the hospital, where a room near the top floor was blown apart in a haze of bloody red light. As smoke curled out of the gaping hole, a strange figure walked out into view. The camera man zoomed in on it, but the camera quality wasn't the greatest. However, it was clear the figure was not human. Strange horns grew in a multitude form its head, and it seemed to be wearing all black, except for a silver gauntlet on its left hand, and silver boots. Suddenly, it snapped open large, red wings, let out a frightening scream, and flew into the air, leaving red streaks of light in the sky. It flew with amazing speed, and the cameraman lost it for a moment. He found it again, hovering above the hospital. It raised its hands above its head, and red and black lights began accumulating around its hands. Dante watched in horror as the demon created a large orb of energy. With a maniacal smile, the creature hurled the orb at the hospital, blowing it apart. The ensuing explosion shook the earth, and the cameraman fell down. When he regained his footing, the cameraman swore as he saw the burning crater, the cracked streets, and the glowing fragments that Dante had already seen. Dante turned the TV off, looked at Trish, and said, "Well, I thought it was starting to get too quiet around here. Looks like its time to hunt again." With that, he walked over to a wall, threw on his signature red trench coat, strapped on Rebellion, and began walking out. He turned to Trish and said, "This shouldn't take long. However, I do want you to go to the place Force Edge was confined in, before Arkham took it. I have a strange feeling this is all connected." Trish looked at Dante. "You don't think this is someone using your father's power, do you? I know they were somewhat similar, but you locked away that power. Dante, chances are this is just some lowly demon who found a way out. Don't worry too much about it." Dante holstered Ebony. "Trish, with what we've seen, we can't be too careful. There is something familiar about this demon; I just don't know what it is. I'll let you know if I find out more." With that, Dante left his shop, filled with ominous thoughts of what this new threat could mean.
7
