The entity sat in an almost bemused silence as it watched the interlinked worlds caused by that Nexus in history.
The fate once guided by a cruel mastermind, now wondering about its former kingdom, was in flux as one of its pupils had taken control of what the being had once claimed for his own. Reduced to little more than a tempting spirit by a trecherous devil that bore the power of birth within him.
He was one of the first beings to be created, the bringer of light, Lucifer Eosphorus the angel of first light. And then the defeated twin of the dark angel that bore the title of Death made manifest lashed out after Azazels glory had been stripped from him in the final battle of Atlantis and struck the morningstar in the back, a trecherous blow beyond even what his own traitorous heart could comprehend.
And thus the devil spirit was adrift, broken and battered and his plans of domination were wrent asunder after the first act. The acts of the Garden where new when it occurred, the fall of Atlantis being the last act of the old world, the end of the age of demons upon the Earth before the weapon wielded by Azrael was unleashed in its full potential against another of the four brought to bear by Azazel.
The former lightbringer contemplated what had happened since then, Janus the chaos bringer had reshuffled the deck by transforming Azrael into a being the likes of which had never been seen before, into something that even the powerful Nephilim could only hint at with their linked but incompatible essences be the being one. Nephilim were powers to behold, the greatest of villains or heroes, their destiny the first to truely be made by choice.
They had interested him, the existance of the Nephilim was a direct result of his abandonment of the Creators commands. The fall and the resulting conflict brought both devils and angels into contact with the inhabitants of the world now known as Earth through the descendants of Cain the Firstborn, the one bonded now with another branded with the name of traitor.
He mused to himself that his own rebellion was something ill advised and was something that was a spur of the moment bid for freedom, but beings like Azazel were different. Azazel was a monster, even he could admit that, a being that enjoyed destroying his opponent mentally and spiritually before destroying the body when the monster hated someone, and the arch devil truely hated his brother in a twisted irony.
Azazel was not as sly as he thought though, the monsterous devil had once been a warrior angel, assigned for combat but never really mastered the more diplomatic aproaches, or even the sneaky ones, he preferred to strike with a frontal assault when he could, though he would take a chance to stab others in the back if he saw an opportunity to do so that benefited him, much as the devil had when he'd destroyed Lucifers own form to leave him as but a spirit.
Evrae, his former spirit had abondoned him when he'd fallen, choosing to guard the Bastion of Atlantis while Garuda the Phoenix had allied itself with Raphael when Azazel had fallen. Azazels domination of Evrae was the very thing that allowed the monster to destroy his still pristine form with the weapon that bound his spirit companion that also touched the edge that had sampled the blood of Apocalypse.
And thus he'd been trapped as he was, a spirit without a body, but able to take the forms of the dead since a tiny fragment of the blood of the scythes spirit had entered his form before his body was destroyed as well as an action that had gained him some hope of reclaiming his former body, the death and binding of the spirit of Raphael.
A hidden orb, the very thing that was used as the prototype for the mortal creations called an Orb of Thesula, held the archangels soul. It was one of his prizes, something that still made the incorporeal entity smile on occasion, Azazel had managed the vistory, but Lucifer Eosphorus had claimed the prize by stealing the soul before the monster could do anything to the soul of the archangel that a small portion of his mind still referred to as a friend, the portion that the word still held meaning in.
Now that orb held a new purpose as a new plan rose in his mind, his original plan would have netted him is body back, but this new one had a different promise.
Until Janus' power fused human and angel togather the hope of redemption was lost, an angelic or devil soul could only fall and then they were lost forever while mortal souls could find redemption during their life and sometimes beyond even that. The thoughts running through the immortal devil-spirit were different now as he considered if it were posible to trade the soul of an Archangel for the chance to be remade as Azrael had, to be remade as the angel who had once been but the angel of loyalty had been.
It would be worth it, a way to deal with the monster who had destroyed all the power he had gained, to be free, free as he now understood it rather than as he had before his own rebellion.
His original plan involved utilizing some of his own pawns to dupe the slayer into upsetting the balance with the Armageddon Weapon that Azazel had used and he'd stolen and hidden after the death of Raphael. That use would be enough to allow him to utilize the energies to retake his former body and powers, to become more than a tempting spirit.
But for now he remained as he was, he was Lucifer Eosphorus the Morning Star, he was the Lightbringer, and he was also the one known now as the First Evil. And even the traitor devil Azazel would soon learn that it was unwise to backstab a viper.
The archdevil in question had returned to the hellmouth, reveling in the twisted energies from a dimension humans would think it to be hell.
Azazel had a goal this time, he'd found the mad vampiress Drusilla, one who had nearly starved due to the effect of he own injuries and illness mixed with the loss of her paramour on All Hallows Eve. The beginning of a unique situation that allowed the physical presence of ne of his caliber to enter the mortal world. Normally, such a thing would be beneath his notice, but a seer, even a mad one was a useful object and a toy for his amusement if nothing else, and she would put up no struggle in the battle for submission, the only Demons close to an angel or devils power were the Old Ones, and even they were trumped by an Archangel or Archdemon or even some of the gods and goddesses that served the Creator in their own way.
The devil stepped from his perch among the wooden rafters of the warehouse the broken Vampire had hidden herself in.
A brief musing on the several species that were collectively referred to as Vampires crossed his mind.
The largest population was the demonic breed, or in other terms Homo Sapien Vampirus Aurielus. It was one of the weaker breeds to be sure, their ability to spread like rats if left unchecked combined with a lack of the spark of creativity was their seeming hallmark with a few scattered exceptions. This was exemplified in the Turok Han subspecies that barely qualify as more than idiotic brutes that were best used as simple shocktroopers.
Then there were the Homo Sapien Corvenus Lamia, although they tended to congregate in but a few areas due to their innate love of internal secrecy and their war with the mutated therianthrope strand in the other Corvenus line. They had little advantage over the Aurielian vampires except they could think and plan as well as the choices in maintaining their secrecy.
The other major group was the Homo Sapian Nosferatu and the Homo Sapien Nosferatu Rex. The latter had only come through a magically and scientifically forced mutation of the base strand by an Abraham Van Hellsing to create a vampire of strength equal to even the Greater Daemons and some of the lesser dieties. That was something that truely shocked him as well as reinforced his belief that humanity was little more than a plague that should be rectified.
There were a scattered few other species that were grouped with the vampires, one notable one from the east, but they were little more than animals for the most part and would be put down violently by just about every group including all of the other Vampire species.
Vampires of the Aurielus line were interesting in that they were not the same spirit that would become during the turning unless something special happened, and in this case that had happened in Angelus' tormenting of the young girl who had desired to take her vows as a nun, that had triggered the first part of the effect, unsealing that which was sealed, the last sister of a trinity, the third fate, the one the Canis trinity had laid low for forcing others to falsely believe that one of their number was corrupt. The spirit creature now named Edith was a mix of the lost oracle and the blood demon while the fractured, but still human soul remained in the corporeal body with the oracle part of the spirit protecting the soul of its host and the demonic portion attempting to remove it. That was the part that made the link powerful, the mortal powers of the oracles was limited in its vision in what could be seen, but with the demonic power added, it became a much more clear vision of what was wanted if the seer was properly guided on the path.
The raw powers that he personally had gained, more specifically the minor talents in precognition would enable him to control her powers and bind them to his service. It would be his edge against the twin he hated and desired the death of.
Stunned silence filled the room as the female british knight stood in shock at the name of the visitor who had managed what seemed impossible. Integra found she couldn't move as she watched the angel shrug and start to walk out of the room.
The existance of at least one angel who had managed to materialize a cup of coffee, or at least she hoped it was just coffee, before leaning against the wall. A black mug with the simple phrase, Don't Screw Up, Angels Are Watching!
It would have been absurd if it weren't for the fact that she was pretty damn sure of her sanity at the moment and with a scythe that made her realize that the title that was linked in myth to the name Azrael that made the title omething more solid then when the same moniker had been given to Walter all those years ago.Her thinking paused for a moment as she realized that if he could get Alucard and Anderson to go drinking instead of causing an international incident, it was a good thing.
Her train of thought was interrupted for a moment as Xander slipped outside.
And then the thought hit her that she had no idea what the three had been up to, and especially with how wasted the three had been, it could not be a good thing. And that's when the panic set in.
AN: This chapter was hard due to the metaphysics of it and more explainations of various things tied into this as well. I don't really have much with Xan for the moment because I'm trying to set the pieces of the game up for later by introducing the characters that tie into the plot.
Mchael22: Well, I was working on ideas and needed to space things out slightly and put up what I had.
Firehedgehog: Here you go