He sat there swirling his drink in his glass, listening to the ice clinking as it went around. He went through the video feeds, watching as his coldfire imps caused Earth some issues. Admittedly it had been a lot longer than he had expected for Prince Stolas but it is what it is. It was that foolish owl demon's fault it was happening- his ancestors anyways.

Of course he hadn't expected things to go down the drain like it did….. Those fools in the black hoods messed up quite badly. He went back once those from D.H.O.R.K.S. were cleared out and the summoning circle was to summon an overlord but one misdrawn symbol brought one of the very demons he didn't want to see.

Prince Stolas had been a thorn in his side since the moment those morons messed up and used one of the D.H.O.R.K.S. agents instead. He had managed to get ahold of one of the assholes for them to explain what the hell happened before he killed him.

It had been no matter.

He escaped his clutches once…..

There was no sign of D.H.O.R.K.S. yet so that means they hadn't caught on and the prince of Goetia hadn't showed up.

It would only be a matter of time I suppose.

Darkhold drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair before sipping his cold drink.

It has been months now.

If only he had shown up in time to gain control of the situation.

I suppose there is no point in dwelling on the past.

He turned the TV off for the moment. He didn't need to watch anything more since nothing interesting had happened. It had been a moment of genius on his part when those generic looking imps showed up from Hell and started causing issues.

He smiled.

No one would know….

Darkhold finished off his drink and placed it on his cup holder. He closed his eyes, thinking of the day coldfire came into his life. Some could say it ruined their lives. Others could say it made their lives better but even those fools had no idea what they had stumbled upon. None of them could use it like he could.

Not even those idiots from Goetia.

He raised from his seat and grabbed the bottle of liquor from the bookshelf. He poured himself another glass while lost in thought.

He had been working on his farm in England for so many years and he was in forties. His family had owned it for a few generations but it wasn't going too well thanks to the Great Famine and Black Death. He just finished his glass of water and headed back outside when the sky looked…..

Strange.

There was no other way to describe it.

At first it had a tinted blue color to the clouds and it was evening but the sky started to take on a more purple color. Something lit up the sky in violet and something flashed through the sky like a falling star.

It was too late for him to move out of the way when he realized it was coming at him at an alarming speed.

"OH SHIT-

But it had been too late for him to move since he had been gawking for too long.

The light became brighter, slamming into the ground. It almost felt like an earthquake. He fell on his ass, looking around wildly. He rubbed his eyes, blinking trying to see what the hell was going on. The thing looked like liquid light. Liquid lilac light-

Impossible

It suddenly started to sink into the ground then started to melt like it was ice and snow. He stood up, staring as the crops of his near it started to fry like grease had been dumped on them. The ground shook again and the purple light started to boil and the ball form started to crack instead of melt.

It began vibrating, a loud humming filled the air.

"What the fuck-

The light exploded, nearly causing him to go deaf. His ears were ringing, making his head hurt but it wasn't over just yet.

The light splattered everywhere, some of it landing on him. The earth started to crack from where the impact had started. Purple light filled the air once more then it shot off in all directions- except the purple light that was on him. It sunk into his skin, almost burning him from the outside in.

He screamed and hollered in pain- even soiling himself in the process but there was no one for miles who would hear him screaming in pain. No one who would hear his cries. No one who could help him with something that almost seemed alien.

Was it from aliens?

He wouldn't know….. Not while he was writhing in pain on the cracked ground.

X

The next afternoon, he woke up to the sun shining down on him. His skin was pink from laying there in its direct light. He sat up, looking at his hands. It looked like he still had a very subtle purple afterglow…..

That really happened?

He rose from his feet and staggered into his house to see what the hell happened to him. He staggered into his bedroom, looking in the mirror seeing he almost looked fifteen years younger than he did yesterday….

What the fuck?

He touched his face before running his hands through his hair. The grays and whites that had peppered his hair were gone- it was back to its original brown color. He laughed.

Had he suffered so much pain last night that it caused him to go insane?

He laughed for a while like it was hilarious but it wasn't. He was panicked in some way…. If he looked younger….

People will be after me.

He turned around and went back outside to look at his farmland. It was destroyed….. All those food bearing plants were fried like the sun itself touched them. He saw the hole where that purple light had hit. He ran over to it hoping to find a clue and found a book sitting there.

The cover was purple- the same shade as the light from last night.

It wasn't a dream. It really happened.

Part of him didn't want to believe it but it did happen.

He grabbed the book, feeling the strange energy coming off of it. He lifted it out of the hole seeing the weird and strange language on the front. It was definitely strange but in a way it seemed familiar to him.

What happened to me last night? What is this and what's going on?

After hours of sitting in his house, he decided to leave. He wasn't sure where he was going or what he could actually do but if he stayed he would be considered a witch. He had a book in his hands that contained some kind of weird symbols and words….

They would try to kill him.

That power deaged me…. Could they kill me at all?

If they tried and he didn't, he would definitely be considered a witch and that's the last thing he needed.

He collected a few things, created a bindle of some sort and took off, wrapping the book up tight so no one could accidentally see it. Even when night fell, he continued going but he noticed the strangest thing. The further away from his farm, the better the plants and farms were.

The plants flourished. There were even some odd ones that had grown like they were from another planet.

He wished more than anything he would've had a horse or a pack mule but this was the best choice for now. He could hide more by himself.

X

X

Over the years, he managed to learn the language in the book. It was a mixture of angelic and demonic language. Even a language of the two mixed together. The angel's name never came up, only the family named 'Goetia' came up.

They were a breed of bird-like demons.

I wonder if I can bring forth a demon.

The grimoire in his hands had no indication that it could summon a demon or even a member of the Goetia family. If the grimoire in his hands existed, then that meant there was some that could. There had to be demon summoning books.

If demons existed- even angels, hell there had to be witches and other creatures right?

He managed to get a hold of a witch's book. He got his hands on coldfire items. That was one thing that showed up constantly in the book. Coldfire.

Over time, he realized how special coldfire was.

Over time, he met demons- of course he hadn't summoned any. For some reason, he could not. No matter what books he had gotten his hands on it was nothing. His blood, the blood of others or animals. No matter what sacrifice or medium he used….

After a few hundred years, he thought Goetia was just a myth.

Until he saw Prince Stolas with his own eyes.

He looked young. Like a teenager. He was sitting in the middle of the woods, looking up at the night sky with his eyes glowing bright red.

The prince was flipping through the pages, the pages glowing bright and he was humming.

An owl in the woods hooted making the demon chuckle and hoot right back.

The books had described that demons were evil creatures. This…. This was not an evil creature. He stepped forward, snapping a twig in half.

The owl demon's eyes glowed even brighter then he was gone.

Just like that.

They were real.

Then that fueled his need to search even more.

But it would be an even longer time before he saw Prince Stolas again or even learned his name.

—-

He hummed loudly, taking another drink.

Not much has changed.

He still wanted power. He wanted the knowledge of Heaven and Hell…. He would get it no matter the cost. If it was possible to combine the power of the two then anything else was possible. He wanted what he could get.

"I won't be making another mistake of handing a coldfire item to a bunch of unbalanced idiots."

He threw back the rest of his drink when he felt it. A wide grin overcame his thoughtful expression. He placed his glass down walking over to his table. He left an old chessboard out…. How long had he had it now? It had collected some dust and it looked rough but he still had all the pieces.

"I suppose it's time for another game, Prince Stolas."

He ran his fingers on the dusty board before heading for bed.

"I'll be winning this time."