Universe: Reversal||Series: Ere Shadows Fall
Title: Call The Darkness
Characters: Queen Bijou (OC), Fallen Angel Lucifer (OC), Anisha (OC)||Ships: N/A
Chapters: 1-?||Chapter Words: 4,546||Total Words: 4,546
Genre: Drama||Rated: PG
Notes: This is my reversal world. So, Juudai carries the power of the Destructive Darkness and the world consists of humans, monsters, and spirits. Every story in the Ere Shadows Fall line takes place pre-capture of Johan and Ryou. The latest will be the very beginning of Juudai's conquest. This particular story here won't tell everything and will feature Ocs and world building very heavily. Don't worry, Juudai will be along in due time. He might not be very talkative when he first shows up, though. But here begins the foundation of the Reversal World and all that will come after.
Summary: Before Haou's ruthless conquest, before the rebellion, before such a person as Juudai even existed, there was a time of peace and plenty – and that time ended before he was born. Because he could not be born until that time ended and the balance was no more.
It began as it would go on – in fire and destruction, with armies marching and armies dying in droves. It began in a realm of beauty rendered into a nightmare of death and ruin, and it began with a woman, a queen, named Bijou.
She ran. Three servants fled ahead of her, each one of them carrying a precious bundle, more valuable to her than the most flawless of diamonds, than the purest of gold, than every treasure in her vaults.
There wasn't anywhere they could go where she couldn't hear shrieks of her people as they fought and fell. Whenever she passed near a window, she could see fire razing the city and parts of her castle. The castle that had stood so proud and strong for as long as her family line ruled this realm, now with the Fallen Angels' invasion forces crawling everywhere.
Bijou tried not to look out of the windows often. Not only was it too dangerous, risking that a stray blast of magic or a crossbow bolt or an arrow might strike her, but she could not risk that she'd be so distraught by the fall of her city that she'd fail to get them to safety.
When she did stop, she stood before a tapestry, woven of the finest quality, displaying an image of a shimmering white dragon, with a rainbow arching over its head. The servants stopped when she did, catching their breath. None of them knew what she was about to do. She couldn't let anyone know before now. She refused to risk the chance that anyone would tear the information from them.
But now she stared at the tapestry and whispered a silent pray to the Great Gem God, Rainbow Dragon.
Please protect them. There's nothing even you can do to protect the rest of us. But them. Take care of them. Keep them safe, no matter what.
She drew in a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and rested one hand on the image of the dragon's snout. The words she spoke could have been understood by very few. In another time, she would have taught them to her children, when the time came, as they'd been taught to her. Now, this knowledge would die with her.
When the final syllable fell from her lips, the tapestry faded away, revealing not a blank wall as anyone would have found if they lifted the tapestry, but a stairway winding downward. She gestured to the servants.
"Go. Keep them safe. Take them as far from here as you can and never, ever tell them where they came from. The Light will tell them, when the time is right."
Bijou rested one hand on each of them for a few moments, breathing each name with all the love she had for them all. Her children – the last of the royal line.
Johan. Her oldest, the heir to the throne.
Rune. The middle child, with a core of magic stronger than anything she'd ever seen.
Yubel. Oh, Yubel. The Guardian born… the one who could save them all, if only they weren't a baby…
She fought to keep the tears from falling and did not succeed very well. But she gestured once more and the servants started downward. The last in line stared at her.
"Stay safe, my queen," he murmured. "Stay safe and be strong."
Bijou only smiled. She dared not tell them what she knew – and what they knew as well as she did. The only safety lay in her death now, and what that death would buy for her children.
As soon as they were all three out of sight, she touched air where the image of Rainbow Dragon had been and whispered the spell that returned the tapestry there. She did not wait another moment, but gathered her courage, and hurried along to her throne room. She knew that they would be there, sooner or later, and she would ensure that her children remained safe with every breath that she took – or didn't take. Perhaps one day they would return and restore all that was lost today. She hoped. Oh, she hoped as much as the Light of Hope itself did.
She also hoped that the Light of Hope stayed far away and safe. The world would need Hope in days to come…
The closer she got to the throne room, the worse the smoke and flames grew, and she stopped two corridors away as some of the younger servants fled s creaming, chased by some of the Fallen Angels' warriors. Neither servants nor warriors noticed her, and she dared not stop, not now. She needed to occupy someone else, not these small fry.
A single step into the throne room revealed that someone had already been there – empty save for herself, a small fire burning in one side of the room, the tapestries on the walls torn down and shredded, the carpets ripped and torn, and too much blood everywhere. Streaks of ash and flame on the walls revealed magic's touch. Her throne alone remained unharmed – there were plenty of defensive spells keeping it and whoever sat there safe.
So that was where she seated herself, and raised one hand to the flawless diamond set above the throne. Her power flowed through the diamond, spreading out over the entire city, and she spoke, her words echoing all over.
"I, Bijou, Queen of Norbu, challenge whomsoever leads these troops of evil to come to my throne room. There we shall settle this face to face."
She refused to let an ounce of the pain she felt reveal itself in her voice. She remained seated high in her throne, her wings spread just a little – she hoped no one noticed that one of them hung just a trifle askew, battered from the fight she'd endured to get to the nursery before her children could be taken, or worse. Her gown covered the wounds on her right leg and left arm as well. She didn't think her left arm would ever truly work properly again, and all the running she'd put her leg through likely did it no favors.
Her features remained still, regal, and cold, however, as she awaited the arrival of her enemies. Her breathing grew slower with each moment, and she had to fight to keep her focus as her strength faded bit by bit. If they waited much longer, then what little plan she had would be for nothing.
It might be for nothing anyway. The Fallen Angels were not weak. If she had enough strength to do this, it still didn't mean that she could successfully defeat them. And even if she did…
"Hello, Bijou." She'd heard that voice before, raised in council and in argument. She turned towards the entryway, one eyebrow tilted upward at the sight that awaited her there.
What almost everyone saw first when they gazed on Fallen Angel Lucifer were all of the wings – each one black as sin and the feathers soft as a cloud – though there were few indeed who ever touched them to learn that. He stood wrapped in black leather armor, carrying a long-bladed sword that dripped with blood and far, far worse, his white hair as flawless as every feature he bore. No one who looked at him could escape knowing why he was known as an angel.
Though that smile of his wasn't very angelic at all. He strolled forward, his eyes focused on Bijou.
"Your realm has fallen," Lucifer said, raising his sword and wiping it clean on a cloth. The blood wasn't just red – he'd occupied himself killing anyone who stood against him, human, spirit, and monster alike. "Surrender and I might think about letting you live. At least for a while."
Bijou didn't twitch for a single heartbeat. He wasn't close enough for her to be certain. "Never. You'll never take my realm and you won't take me or my children."
Lucifer chuckled at that. "Your realm is no more. It's a part of my realm now." He held his sword up to examine it. "Though I might let one of my brothers rule it for now. I have a few other tasks to occupy myself with." He glanced at her, his lips curved into a deceptively beautiful smile. "Such as releasing the Darkness of Destruction."
Oh. That explained so very much. Bijou shook her head. "Why would you want to do that?" She couldn't even begin to wrap her head around it. She'd heard the tales all of her life of how the greatest force of ruin in the universe had been sealed for the safety of all. Why would anyone want to bring it back?
Lucifer did not move any closer. She wanted to get him at least within hand's reach; she didn't think she could succeed in her goal if he were any farther. But he answered. "Because it wants me to. The Darkness calls to me, Bijou, and I am as bound to it as you are bound to Creation's Light." He chuckled softly. "My troops are already searching for your children. You can keep them safe if you give yourself up. They'll only be killed – not destroyed."
As if that would make her feel any better. But she twitched the wing that still worked. "I couldn't even if I wanted to. They're already gone." Lying would always be beneath her. But she would choose what truth she told and when she told it. "Fight me, Lucifer. Magic to magic – and let the victor be chosen by that."
From the sweep of his wings, he was more than a little startled by her challenge – and then he started to laugh.
"You have perhaps an hour of life left in your body. Perhaps not even that. And you think that you can defeat me?" He raised his sword and slammed it into the sheath on his back, tucked between his wings. "What a fool you are. You would have done better to keep them by your side. But if that's truly what you want, then I have no reason to deny you. I'll take that hour of yours and tear it right out of you."
Bijou tensed, gathering up all of her energy as he moved forward. "I'll pay that hour gladly to keep you away from them and out of my realm."
"I don't think so." Lucifer spread arms and wings wide. "Strike. Strike with all of your might, Queen of Gems. Queen of Light that is no more. Do so and see what serving the Darkness has given me."
She wanted to tear every scrap of life Lucifer had out of his body and drive all of his brothers away from Norbu forever. She'd existed for her entire life with the Fallen Angels' realms on her borders, standing strong to defend the rest of the world from what they claimed. To have it fall now, without any chance to rise again – she dared not.
What she did was raise her hand, seven shades of light flaring all around her. "Ultimate Gem God! Rainbow Dragon! I call upon your life and your life to protect us all, by defeating this minion of your eternal opposite!" She thrust her hand forward, knowing she'd never make another attack like this. But to take Lucifer down…
If anyone else had been there, they would not have been able to see a single thing as the blast of energy filled the entire room, searing everything even remotely flammable. Parts of the walls and ceiling crumbled into dust, and she slumped forward, barely able to keep herself breathing.
I did it. I did it. She dragged her head up, it dropped again, and then she pulled it up once more, staring at what she'd done. She could see little more than a pile of black feathers that didn't seem to be moving.
She'd done it. With Lucifer's passing, then the other Fallen Angels and their army would flee, and she could hopefully have time before she passed to appoint a regent and have them find the children…
Wings moved. Lucifer raised his head, white hair falling away from his face, a satisfied smile on his lips.
"None of your efforts can slay me, Queen of Light," Lucifer said as he rose to his feet. "The power of the great Darkness protects me, so that only it can ever kill me. Though that was a fine effort."
He strolled closer. Bijou strained to summon up even a small scrap of energy and could gain nothing. Her hands clutches uselessly at the arms of her throne and there wasn't enough air in her lungs to so much as cry out as Lucifer seized her by the throat and slammed her against the back of her throne.
"I win."
And Queen Bijou, last Queen of Norbu, knew only pain for a very long time, and then knew no more.
Lucifer dropped what was left of her – which wasn't much – and examined the wreckage of the room. Her final attack had ruined more of it than anything he or his people had done and he had to admire her for it. She'd tried with everything she had to drive them out. It wasn't her fault that it hadn't worked.
He strode over to the nearest place to look outside and see how the conquer worked out. There were still screams and cries and wailing rising from every quarter and the burning kept going merrily. He stared thoughtfully at the Temple of Light, then turned back to what had been a marble throne and after what he'd done was now little more than a pile of rocks.
Above it the diamond still remained, light fading, and Lucifer headed back over there. He ripped it out and stared down at it – he wouldn't have been able to do that if she'd still been alive. Her children hadn't been bonded to the gemstone, which meant that now it was his. He considered it for a few seconds before he set it on a miraculously surviving table and pulled a small, sharp dagger out of a sheath.
The diamond, rumor had it, had been the first gemstone ever discovered in Norbu, by Bijou's first ancestor, the first one to carry the Light of Creation. Each generation would be bonded to it, granting them all manner of magical abilities. But no longer.
Lucifer slashed his hand and let thirteen drops of his dark red blood fall onto the diamond. The gemstone all but shuddered where it lay, then every pristine facet of it turned a deep shade of smoky black.
"Much better," he approved before he picked the gem up again and headed outside, spreading his wings to take off once he had enough space to do so. Reaching the Temple of Light from there took only a few wing-beats, and then he stood on the threshold.
He'd tried to get in there before he'd gone to face Bijou. But the defenses of the place had been too strong, and every one of them centered on Bijou herself. He couldn't imagine her precious children being anywhere else. That was where he would have sent them, if he had offspring he wished to protect above all else.
Inside he could hear whispers and feel the presence of people and magic, the magic that centered around creation and protection. His lip curled at the very thought before he strode forward, crossing the barrier that shattered with the fading protections – now gone thanks to Bijou's death – and the corruption of the holy diamond.
The doors glowed in white marble with silver and gold filigree, adorned with a design of the Rainbow Dragon and a rainbow picked out in tiny gemstones. Or they did, until Lucifer blasted them open, throwing the first row of warriors who'd stood behind the doors halfway across the entryway. Lucifer strolled inside, glancing from one side to the other.
What he saw didn't surprise him. A lovely temple, usually kept open for all who wished to come and worship here, with a grand altar that had another statue of the dragon and rainbows above it – really, far more rainbows than any place would ever need in his opinion. Lucifer examined it for a few seconds before he drew his sword and delivered a massive one-handed overhand blow to the altar.
Statue and altar fall apart at the strike, and he could feel the power built up there already fading and shaking. How delightful.
He'd brought warriors and mages along to enjoy themselves in the rest of the city, while he and his brothers handled the more important parts, such as the castle and the temple. So far he hadn't seen a single warrior here who could stand up to the least of his. He'd trained them all for over a hundred years to reach this level of perfection and skill.
Bare feet skittered over the marble floor, stopped, then scampered away. Lucifer spied a flicker of movement and followed it. Perhaps whoever this was would be bale to tell him where those royal children were. He wanted to claim them before he picked one of his brothers to act as regent here.
It would have to be someone who could actually work hard. There would be a great deal of cleaning to do and bodies to dispose of. The temple and palace would have to be absolutely destroyed and something far more fitting put into its place. He already had a few ideas on that score.
Ahead of him he saw who ran away from him – a little slip of a girl, with tiny fairy wings that weren't big enough for her to fly with, wrapped up in a gown of white and gold. An acolyte most likely. She might not be able to tell him what he wanted to know, but he would find out.
He could have caught up with her in a few moments. His longer legs and wings allowed him far greater speed than almost anyone else. But he took his time, savoring the fear that rolled off of her, growing with each breath as she cast her eyes back towards him now and then. She hurried through corridors and rooms, going upward, and as she did, a hint of curiosity tugged at him.
She wasn't afraid. Or perhaps, she wasn't just afraid. She didn't fear for her life, but she wanted him to keep following her. The way she kept going no matter what, not crying out for help, even when he knew they passed near people who could have at least slowed him down long enough for her to escape.
He'd ignored all of those in the first room. They meant nothing to him, being fodder for his warriors instead of his target. Tracing her down guided him to a much wider room, that unfolded beyond a pair of columns also wrought with the emblem of the Rainbow Dragon.
Now Lucifer halted. Something wasn't at all right here, and he refused to lose his hard-won victory to something so simple.
The acolyte hesitated, just on the other side of the columns. She cast a glance ahead of her and then back to him. Her wings fluttered, her hands clutching and unclutching. She took a step closer to him, then shifted back.
She was teasing him. She waned him to follow. Her eyes shifted to the columns again and then back to him.
Lucifer hadn't gotten as far as he had without learning a few things. He smiled.
The children aren't here. They would never let this happen if they were. Too great a chance that I would find them.
That meant he'd have to search elsewhere. But that would come later. He raised his blade one more time and this time slashed through the columns. This close he could feel the wards and spells that he cut through, and the girl ahead of him screamed as the roof began to bend downward, the floor shaking at the same time.
Lucifer wasn't going to just let her be crushed, though. He darted forward; whatever spells she'd wanted to drag him into tried to seize onto him and failed, not nearly enough power behind them anymore. He seized her wrist and dragged her closer to him, wings folding around her.
"You have courage, child," he murmured into her ear, pleased to feel her shaking against him. "I will spare your life, but there is a cost."
Large shimmering golden eyes turned up to him. He reached up to rest one hand in the cascade of her silver-blue hair. He did not recognize if she were of the card spirit clans, but it didn't matter. Not anymore.
"That price is that from now on, you belong to me. You will obey my every command for the rest of your life – which will be as long as I wish it."
She started to shake her head. "No!" He thought she wanted to say something else, but he didn't care to listen. He rested one finger against her lips.
"That's enough." He stared at her for a few seconds before he nodded. "Your name is Anisha."
Again she shook her head, jerking back from him. "My name's -"
Again his finger touched her lips, cutting the words off. "Your name is what I choose to call you, Anisha. I can be a pleasant master – if you obey me. If you aren't, I can make you regret that you were ever born."
He looked up to see others scattering here and thee, fleeing the damage that he'd caused. There wasn't enough damage. They were, after all, still alive.
Still holding Anisha, he rose up into the skies until he had a perfect view of the castle and the temple and most of the other important buildings. His forces could see him and cheers rose upward towards him, his name being chanted over and over, weapons waved in success.
"Depart, my people, my brothers," he told them, voice reaching them all. "It's time to finish this."
He could hear Anisha whimpering but he had other matters to deal with. She clung to him, clearly unwilling to take her own life to escape him, and had a front row seat as powerful energy, as black as night itself, gathered at his fingertips. First one sphere, then another, rocketed downward to all of the buildings that he targeted. Then another, and another, and another.
With each strike, the buildings shook, and all of those inside of it fled as swiftly as they could. Most of them ran right into his own people as they headed out, and those who didn't die on their swords were stripped of their weaponry and armor, bound with chains or magic, and hurried along as Lucifer continued to rain destruction down on them all.
Every scrap of power that he used stemmed from the great Darkness of Destruction itself. He couldn't channel it like a proper incarnation could but almost anyone could cast spells that would destroy something, if they really wanted to. What the Darkness did with his spells was increase their effects on whatever they hit.
Which meant that he got to watch as the formerly shimmering, beautiful city died under his power, the buildings shaken down to dust, bodies rendered into nothing more than scattered bits no larger than the span of one's hand, and anything else that he hit being much, much less. What had been a center of life, commerce, and one of the greatest bastions against the Darkness of Destruction was soon nothing more than ruins.
Anisha sobbed, her grip on him tightening. "Why did you do that? Why are you doing any of this?"
Lucifer chuckled as he headed to where his army camp lay. He'd likely beat his army there – his wings carried him far more swiftly than their feet could. "Because what else would I do?"
"You don't have to kill people and wreck everything! Queen Bijou didn't! You don't have to!"
"Perhaps I don't have to," Lucifer acknowledged. "But I enjoy doing it. And if you weren't aware, Bijou is dead. She died screaming, in fact, and begging me to end it." At least he liked to think she had. The noises that she'd made at the end weren't very coherent. He chose to interpret them as being begging. He'd even been kind enough to do so.
Anisha sobbed, beating one hand against him. She could only do it with one hand; her other remained wrapped tight around him, keeping herself from falling. Tears coursed down her cheeks and her wings beat uselessly.
Lucifer landed just outside of his tent. Of all of them there, it was the largest and most luxurious from the outside. On the inside – it was even larger and far more luxurious than one might have expected. Enchantments endowed the tent with multiple rooms, and he headed into the more private ones, Anisha scrambling after him, trembling.
He guided her to the bathing area and gestured to the sunken pool. "Clean yourself up," he ordered. "And get rid of that ridiculous outfit. I'll have proper clothes for your new station provided."
She stared at him, trembling. "What do you want me for?" She clasped her hands in front of her, eyes so large and terrified.
"We'll find out what you're good for. For now, I want you to do as you're told." He indicated the sunken pool again, then turned and headed out. He would need a bath of his own later, but before then, he wanted to get matters settled with his brothers, and get a few ideas for what could happen next.
Lucifer wanted to have some sort of plan ready when they returned to the Temple of Darkness. The Darkness of Destruction would want to have some sort of plan, if the children hadn't been recovered.
Where had she sent them? That was one thing he intended to use his new slave for – gleaning any and all information about what Bijou did with her offspring. If she knew nothing, and it wasn't impossible that was the case, then he would have to interrogate the other captives. At least they didn't have to return to their own city right away. They had time.
Just not nearly enough of it. They had less than a year before the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, and the night where the Darkness spoke most clearly. He could speak to the Darkness at any time, and it spoke to him whenever it chose, but on that night, the power of darkness would be at its height.
Something will happen then. But I don't know what.
The Darkness of Destruction didn't tell him everything – he was their most loyal servant, its hands in this world when it did not have a vessel of its own, and it still kept matters from him. But Lucifer held faith strong and true that he would be told what was necessary in the fullness of time.
And until then, he had his brothers and his army to question and find out anything that he'd missed for himself.
To Be Continued
Notes: I am so very excited for this! So many ideas that I'm going to put into practice! Also, Anisha means "nightless, sleepless" in Sanskrit.