Title: Trinity
Author: Nopporn Wongrassamee aka The Evil Author
Summary: The real history of the universe.
Disclaimer: The characters and settings belong to whoever owns them. I'm just too lazy to look up who they are.
Book 5 – Apocalypse
The Apocalypse has come. Many factions of the Ascended fight a shadow war on Earth, using mortals and near-mortals as proxies. The ultimate prize is Earth itself, the crossroads of universe. For it has been prophesied that whoever controls Earth controls the fate of the universe itself.
Wolf, Ram, and Hart have the simplest yet most ingenious plan to possess this world. They will not use armies nor force of arms. That has never been there way, even during the height of the Old Ones' rule. No, there intention is to buy Earth one soul at a time.
Under the rule of Ascended law, Wolf, Ram, and Hart have prospered and grown powerful. To evade the Law of Noninterference, they have created a network of demons, a chain of communication so that their orders may be passed to the lowest mortal in their service. By the time they turned their eye to Earth, a multitude of worlds and dimensions and mortal races owed them fealty.
Such was the cleverness of their scheme was that it went mostly unopposed at first. Before then, any faction attempting to take the Earth was opposed by every other faction. The trade in souls and magical services was so old that no one else considered it as a means to dominance. Wolf, Ram, and Hart's proxy – the organization that would become the corporation of Wolfram and Hart – offered their services to other demons, would-be conquerors, and just plain human scum. When these clients inevitably crashed and burned due to either the actions of some champion or simply their own miscalculations, Wolfram and Hart would emerge a little richer, a little more powerful, and virtually unscathed.
When the other factions vying for Earth realized what was happening, their attempts to usurp Wolfram and Hart became ever more desperate. Their Earth-side followers began to attempt to bring about the return of their masters. Attempted Apocalypses became more frequent. But like with Wolfram and Hart's clients, these grandiose schemes came to nothing.
A Master vampire attempts to open a portal to Hell, only to be stopped by an earthquake created by Richard Wilkins, the semi-immortal warlock who ruled the area.
In an attempt to repeat history, Iblis orchestrated the destruction of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol by the Cylons. As the refugees fled towards Earth in search of the now-legendary Thirteenth Tribe, Iblis has repeatedly attempted to gain their service and souls.
As ever was her way, Jasmine birthed herself into pseudo-mortality. She attempted to force peace upon the world at the cost of free will. But her scheme was thwarted as well.
With Earth's champions engaged in defeating the overt threats, it appeared that nothing could stop Wolfram and Hart. But these attempts and a multitude of others began to draw the attention of Ascended formerly uninvolved with Earth.
The Powers That Be are the Ascended equivalent of a charity organization. A motley collection of well-intentioned Ascended, they are dedicated to the betterment of mortals, opposing the works of exploitive factions like Wolf, Ram, and Hart. But they too are constrained by Ascended Law, only able to send garbled messages and warnings to their mortal agents and champions.
One agent was the vampire with a soul, Angel. From their first encounter with him, Wolfram and Hart attempted to suborn the vampire, for Angel was prophesied to be critical to the Apocalypse. And for a time, it had appeared that they had succeeded. But Angel was ever his own person, following the Ascended only when it suited him.
Angel became a member of the Circle of Thorns, the organization Wolf, Ram, and Hart created to manage their Earth-side operations. Then Angel assassinated the other members of the Circle, having consequences more far reaching than even he realized.
As the sole remaining member of the Circle, Angel is now the master of all of Wolfram and Hart's Earth side operations. Angel himself is close enough to mortal that Wolf, Ram, and Hart must still use proxies to issue him orders. But Angel is in open defiance of Wolf, Ram, and Hart, meaning that the demons are no longer in control of their Earth-side assets.
What's more, Wolf, Ram, and Hart made many deals and bargains with other Ascended and demons. All these deals hinged on their de facto control of Earth. If they don't have Earth, the amount of their wealth and power they would forfeit could very well beggar them.
And finally, Angel stole power from Wolf, Ram, and Hart's avatar, power that came directly from Wolf, Ram, and Hart themselves. With the power came the link, allowing Angel's vampiric nature to siphon even more power from them, posing a very mortal threat to their very being.
For all these reasons, Wolf, Ram, and Hart must kill Angel. But constrained by Ascended law, they must still use intermediaries. For that they have their army, a great host of demons. But sending this whole army to kill Angel is a gamble. It is with the threat of this army that ultimately keeps Wolf, Ram, and Hart's fiefs loyal to them. But on Earth, conquering armies never seem to work. While this army just has to kill one vampire, Angel could conceivably survive.
And if they lose their army while Angel survives...