Well. A bit late again. I recently sleep a bit too much. At least I put up those.
Chapter 10
"Fortune teller"
Before Lucifugus begun to talk about that part of his story he looked below on his notes. He noticed that he was about to finish the next page, just one sentence is left to do.
"Ugh, okay. Before I tell you about that fortune teller let me end this page. I HATE leaving things unfinished like that and this thing would irk me throughout this story." Lucifugus explained to Pen
"Okay! I can be patient" Pen said with a smile and with a thumb up
And so Lucifugus took Pen up from his chest and he started writing again. "Defiance will not be tolerated.". Only 5 words and a dot at the end. Not so hard. First word.
"Are we done?" Pen asked and caused Lucifugus to almost run blood across entire page
"No" Lucifugus answered with a hint of annoyance in his voice
Don't do this again
Second word. Then thi-
"Are we done?" He asked again. His voice was like a knife now for Lucifugus
"No!" Lucifugus's voice became more strict now
Shut it
Third word. Then fourth.
"Done?" Okay. That's it.
"NO!" Lucifugus's voice now became filled with anger and venom.
The tone of it though felt alien to Pen, but that didn't matter because right now his body started being squashed by His Lord's hand
"EEP!"
Lucifugus squeezed him a tad bit too much and some more than necessary blood spilled on the page, creating a stain, but no matter, it doesn't ruin it... not in the slightest... it definitely doesn't bother him in the slightest... doesn't make him want to TEAR THIS PAGE OUT. So he just wrote last word and all that is left is a dot... a dot... He can't make it for some reason...No blood comes out.
"What is it now?!" Lucifugus was beyond irritated
"I think you squeezed me so hard that most of my blood ran out..." Pen answered. His voice sounded pretty weak
"ARE YOU FU-" Lucifugus almost exploded, but somehow calmed down "... okay... FOOD!"
Then a certain Low Devil answered the call, it got on Lucifugus's table and tore off his right arm. Lucifugus put Pen down and Low one gave Pen his arm.
"Eat. Now!" Lucifugus commanded him
"OKIE DOKIE!" Pen was more than happy to do so
And he started eating. Munching and crunching. He even ate the hard parts, but he didn't care. It was tasty.
"Here, let me help." A strange, serene female voice spoke up
Then another Devil, this time a Middle one flew onto the Desk and started healing his mangled body after Lucifugus squeezed him too hard. It was quite pleasant. Then Pen started wondering...
"My lord?" Pen wanted to say something
"What?" Lucifugus seemed to be not in the mood
"Why are you doing it?" but Pen asked anyway
"Doing what?" And made his Bitter lord more confused than angry now
"Giving me food..." Pen shook the arm a bit before eating another part of it "Healing me?"
"Why? You are a broken Pen without an ink..." Lucifugus said and pointed at Pen's head "What good for is a Pen without an ink?"
"But you have all the other Pens there..." Pen pointed towards a box with other Pens... "Why me?"
"To be blunt... you are the only one I can talk to." Lucifugus said as he crossed his arms
"Oh..." Pen paused his eating for a moment "But if so then..."
"What?" Lucifugus asked him after a moment of silence
"Umm..." Pen just kept looking at the unfinished arm
"What did you want to say?" Lucifugus pressed on
"Then..." Pen started to gather up his courage "Why..."
"Why are you a Pen still." Lucifugus finished his thought
Pen didn't say anything though.
Because that is who you are
"Because that is who you are." Lucifugus said, he seemed to not care much about those words. Was it true though? "That is your primary purpose. Like all of those other pens. Is this a problem?"
"NO! BY LUCIFERO AND ALL THE OTHERS NO!" Pen screamed up and dropped his hand and caused the Healing Devil to step away a bit "I just... thought... we are..."
Lucifugus got closer. Devils around the Pen quickly backed away as Lucifugus's fingers loomed over Pen's already broken head...
Choose your words carefully
"Choose your words carefully." He warned him
But Pen only had this innocent look on him as he looked upon His Lord. As if he is completely oblivious to what could happen.
"I..." Pen tried yet again " I thought we are friends..."
"..." There was no answer
Lucifugus slowly took his hand away.
"(OH THANK LORD! I swear if it turned into some awkward-)"
"My lord?" Pen spoke up after his Master was silent for a moment
"Hmm? Ah yes. Well it's not your fault for believing that..." Lucifugus said
Really? Then who is at fault?
"So..." Pen's head dropped down "We are not..."
Pen just sat down on the desk looking down. While it would amuse Lucifugus if it was any other Devil, in this case it felt... wrong... for some reason...
Why would it? You do not feel sorry for this Low do you?
"For now..." Lucifugus gathered up his thoughts "Let's say you are my companion."
Pen at those words jumped up. The newfound life was shining in his eyes.
"REALLY!?" He seemed extremely happy
"Uhh, yes?" Lucifugus though seemed confused
"OH THANK YOU MY LORD!" Pen jumped very high and hugged his finger.
"... (I will regret this later)..." He thought to himself as he looked at Pen who for quite a while wouldn't let go "GET OFF MY FINGER!"
"EEP!" Pen got scared and let go falling down on the Desk
"AND YOU!" Lucifugus pointed at the Middle who backed away before "CONTINUE YOUR WORK!"
"R-right away My Lord!" Middle answered with some hesitation in her voice
She quickly came back and started healing Pen again. Then out of nowhere Lucifugus snapped his fingers
"Ah, I forgot about telling you about that Fortune Teller..." Lucifugus said "Actually that sounds about right."
"...Why?" Pen asked and was about to get an answer
Back in the Past
Lucifugus didn't know exactly why he came back or why he even bothered with that "Fortune teller". It's not like he needs to know what will happen. Because what will? Him dying of boredom or just chocking on the pages of that monstrous book he writes? But alas. He came. And now he waited next to the crude grave of "valiant" revolutionaries. Right now he was in a bit smaller form of his. Still towering over most Devils, but a bit easier to talk to. As he looked at the big slab of rock he could swear he could hear curses and insults coming towards him from below this burial ground. As if ghosts of these revolutionaries were trying to haunt him
"Fuck off" And he didn't care.
"Excuse me milord" A voice came to Lucifugus's ears
He finally noticed him. An imp at his feet, Middle who can supposedly tell the future.
"So... are we doing it here?" Lucifugus asked and strechted out his arms to encompass the area they were in
"No, no milord. We will do it in my shack. I just wanted to meet you here." Imp said as he started to fly to meet Lucifugus face to face But where are my manners. My name is-"
"I don't care." But Lucifugus had no damn to give "Take me to the shack and move on."
"Right... Also where is Space Lord?" Fortune Teller asked as he noticed Lord of Space wasn't with them (Yes I know his name is Beelzebub, but that will come a bit later)
"On the concert." Lucifugus said as he pointed in the direction where the Band of Middles was playing, now without one of their members
"Oh... Well come with me milord" Fortune Teller said as he flew down the road, if one could call a lack of rocks on the ground a road
And they went on their way throughout the first level. Lucifugus begged not to meet Twins again. But thankfully they avoided their territory, possibly due to Fortune Teller's own fear of them and got to his shack. But before that they met 3 Middles who were alongside him on the day before. Fortune teller waved at them and they waved back.
"Your companions?" Lucifugus almost seemed interested
"You could say that. We are bound by fate. My fortunes said that we are destined to be with each other..." he answered with conviction.
"(Sounds like a poor excuse to get some morons to tolerate your presence)" Lucifugus thought to himself
"Ah here we are."
A shack was basically a cave carved into one of those sad Mountains of 1st level. Nothing that intriguing about it other than the curtain on the entrance that was made of Low Devils Skin.
"Enhanced by one of my Fate Bound companions so no Low Devil will get in" Fortune Teller said as he touched the curtain. A small bit of magic ran through it ash he touched it.
And then they entered. This place was filled to the brim with pieces of paper. All of them presumably had another fortune on them. They filled almost entire floor of this cave, creating columns of paper in some places that were almost as tall as Lucifugus now. The only place that had little to none of them was the table in the middle of this poor excuse of a home. For Lucifugus it was rather impressive. And most amusing as there were so many of them on the floor. Basically stomping on some Devils fortune. Most amusing.
"Please take a seat milord." Fortune Teller bowed in the air and pointed towards one of the ends of the table
Both of them sat at the table. It was rather big so it allowed him to sit next to it while Fortune teller sat on a very high chair.
"Now before we begin I believe I should explain to you the rules here." He said as he pulled up a paper on the table
"Rules? Are you serious?" It sounded tiring for Lucifugus
"It's limitation of my abilities here. You see milord I can only tell one Fortune one a single day and it has to be specifically said what do you want to know. Also I need something from you too milord. Speck of hair, piece of skin or something of this sort."
"Would this paper suffice?" Lucifugus pulled out the piece of paper with bloody letters upon it. "Maybe you can tell me when my work is going to end."
"Part of your holy book milord?" Imp knew instantly.
"I wouldn't call it holy, but yes. One rule I wasn't that happy with so I had to re-write it. A pain of writing all of this. Also I don't want you to touch any of MY body parts." Lucifugus said with a stern tone.
"Right. This should suffice." He answered as he looked closer upon the page
"Also I can tell you your fortune more than once, so if you come back here more-"
"I don't plan to. One is enough for me. I at least want to be surprised in my life. One thing that is left for me." Lucifugus said and crossed his hands
"Right. And I myself cannot read what I write on paper with my magic. So I will sign it with MY blood. And you cannot see what I write before I finish it and I can only write certain fortune once unless some fortunes are intertwined."
"Right. Lots of rules for something like this." Lucifugus seemed quite impressed
"Needs to be. My magic is not as vast as yours so I need limitations for it to be effective." He said as he hurt his finger and made the blood drop from it
"(Or make it more convincing that you are not lowshitting)" Lucifugus thought bitterly to himself
After that he signed "Lucifugus" upon the piece of paper. Then he gestured Lucifugus to give him the paper from "Holy Book". Lucifugus obliged. And then the Devil placed his finger of his left hand upon one of the letters of the page. Then his skin turned white. His eyes burned red and his right hand started writing in a trance. It went on for a few minutes as every single letter he wrote VERY slowly. It went on and on for a few minutes. Good lord was it boring... Lucifugus started to fall asleep and just before he drifted away into dreamland...
"MILORD" A scream came from Fortune Teller's big mouth
"GAAAAAAAH!"
He slammed his hands on the table and the force was so big it made the papers all over the floor fly around, alongside the paper Fortune Teller had on the table.
"NOOOOOOO!" Fortune Teller screamed in horror "NONONONO!"
"Oh for fuck sake." Lucifugus though couldn't believe his luck
Just like that the paper was lost...
"SHITSHITSHIT!" The panic out of this Middle was never ending "I'm sure it's here... I'm sure it's here..."
As he watched Imp crawling on the floor looking for it he decided to look at some of the other fortunes. Maybe they will be funny at least or he will find his. He picked up random paper. It said:
"Be aware of Promised time as it will be denied for you. As the flower blooms upon the shoulders of mortals and the clock will tick in the hands of the blind you shall be struck by a bolt of lightning and among the flames and blizzard you shall be forgotten."
"Killed by lightning. Truly humiliating." It was more amusing for him "Alright next one."
But it said exactly the same thing, then picked up next one and the same thing was written and another one and then the same thing...
"Pfft, Knew it was a scam." Lucifugus said with satisfaction at his "amazing" detective skills
Then he picked up another one. This looked more interesting. Also he finally remembered to read the names on those pages. Naamah.
"Promised time will come and so you shall be lost in the shadows of a broken toy as the time is held in the hands of the blind. As your fire dances around the blooming flower you shall be silenced by the quiet nothingness and ice shall engulf you to the core."
"So they will finally kill each other." He didn't sound the least bit surprised "Should have seen that coming."
Then he found Lilith's fortune. Interesting how he could quickly find them.
"As the flames die down and you throw away your existence the dance under the freezing sun shall be silenced with shadows and sweet nothingness. All will unfold in promised time in the brightest shadow of a blooming flower as the time is held in the hands of the blind."
"Blooming flower and time held by the blind..." Lucifugus pondered on those strange words "Those are... interesting. Or this guy doesn't have much imagination."
Then he looked at him again and he was still looking for the missing page. It was just pathetic, in a boring way.
"You know what... Once you find it, contact me. Maybe I'll come later and... see this fortune." Lucifugus said as he was going towards the exit
"BUT..but..." Fortune Teller tried to stop him, but he couldn't
"Don't worry. I wont forget." Lucifugus reassured him
Back to the present.
"I forgot about it." Lucifugus said as he was keeping his head on his hand
"Oh..." Pen seemed disappointed
"Yeah, I only remembered as I told you the previous story." Lucifugus was honest here
"With all due respect my lord. That is VERY irresponsible, how can you govern this Underworld when you forget about keeping your promises!" Then out of nowhere the Healing Middle spoke and caused Lucifugus to look at her. He didn't really bother to even look much at her, he only focused on her face, she seemed... annoyed.
Who in the Underworld is she?
"...Who in the Underworld are you!?" A good question "And for your information I never chose this job!"
"Excuse me wha..?" She seemed confused now
Then Pen got excited.
"OH OH! I CAN TELL HER MY LORD? CAN I TELL YOUR STORY?" Pen was shaking with excitement
"... Sure whatever." Lucifugus had no reason to not agree
"YES!" Pen seemed happy at least
And so Pen went up to her and started telling her the story of his. For Lucifugus it was rather awkward hearing it being told by someone else. He realizes how stupid it sounds and feels. But now he is definitely curious about that fortune. What was written in it?
In the cave for someone reason called the Shack
In the cave of a Fortune Teller among the countless fortunes lies a piece of paper with Lucifugus's name on it. Forgotten among countless fortunes of other Devils.
"A finger lies upon the holy scripture, at the Promised Time in darkness, silence and solitude of home lies a finger upon the last dot, of the last sentence of the last paragraph of the last page. A work without purpose, a work without meaning finally finished as the motionless finger never moves up. A Broken Pen with no Ink finally falls down into the darkness and sound of tearing paper is heard. No more purpose in the dark... no more tales to be told in the shadows... Only a Pen with no Ink."
TBC In chapter 11
Well. That went well. Hope next chapter will be more on time. I just hope you all enjoyed it. I also hope for more people to follow this story, favorite it or leave a comment. It really helps me with writing it. Gives me purpose... which more and more becomes a theme in this story in a way. But still. I hope you all enjoyed it.