CHAPTER XII: GATEWAY
I could not allow your infiltration to stop our plans. I made sure to put all kinds of obstacles in your way. I tampered with the Deimos base's main computer and blocked the passageways in such a way that you would have to pass through all base buildings before reaching the Tower's construction site. Indeed, I succeeded in slowing you down. As I felt that demons were dying throughout the base, I knew that you, even though it seemed impossible, advanced through its demon-infested halls and came closer to your goal.
The containment area was supposed to stop you. Many demons were hiding among the crates, waiting for you to show up, so that they could feast on your flesh. Your training must have been very good – your skills of sneaking around the storage crates and killing my minions quickly, really impressed me. Concerned with blocking the buildings' exits, I had put fewer demons at special areas where special equipment was stored. You found some of those high–tech control rooms, whose switches opened hidden stashes that provided you with weapons. Too late to correct that mistake, I devised some other plan – to lure you into the Fortress of Mystery in hope that my enraged minions there would put an end to you. Then I had to go somewhere else.
The Tower of Babel's constructions was going well – the base was done and now the tower itself was to be built. The base consisted of a great temple of Baphomet with six altars and a giant sacrificial pit. The floors of the tower were to be unholy reliquaries that would hold the cursed remains of Arch Viles – humans sent to Hell for their terrible blasphemous deeds. The purpose of the temple and the reliquaries was to channel pure unholy power when the Cyberdemon Overlord began the ritual. He had to be alone with only a few lost souls to assist him at that time. So I decided to seek out Lord Baphomet and inform him about the crisis – the crisis that concerned once specifically tough and stubborn space marine. That was you.
Baphomet was furious. The whole citadel trembled as he shouted in his anger. He told me to organize the troops for the assault on Earth and to coordinate their efforts to quickly discover ancient demonic sites that were left on the Earth by other Gatekeepers. The Temple of Darkness was not to be used in the war, to my great disappointment. I also had to choose a Gate that would have the central role in the invasion. Many Gates would be opened, but after the first day only one would be left open, in order to prevent the highly unlikely human retaliation into Hell. I had already thought about that and I had designed a scheme for a city, a central neighborhood of which would be transformed into Hell's primary outpost on Earth. It would also be not particularly special in appearance so that you humans would be fooled... but who would have supposed that the city I had chosen was your own hometown. Coincidence? A sign of fate? Or yet another manifestation of the illogical nature of the whole Universe.
Half an hour later I saw the mighty armies of Hell, waiting on the vast Plains of Sorrow. The other Gatekeepers had already given the demons enough black containers – special magical urns that contained a specific amount of spell charges that allowed slain humans to be raised as Former Humans. We would thus quickly amass a great army of undead. I moved along and instructed the warlords. They had to look for secret demonic sites all over the Earth and unravel them in order to utilize the powers and artifacts that were hidden therein. A great priority was the raising of revenants as soon as possible – so I instructed some Hell Knights to quickly move towards a special place in the Rocky Mountains (I still remember that name) where a small demonic stash was hidden. Therein was stored a black tome that contained the lore of raising revenants – the skeletal warriors who would return from the dead to serve us once again.
I remembered of a place near the city that was to be our main base – the temple of Perfect Hatred that contained powerful demonic artifacts, black containers, healing potions, spiritual armor and even a Cyberdemon in stasis! The temple was well–hidden in a natural fissure close to some caverns and a lake of lava. I also recommended the discovery of an ancient Baphomet chapel, built by some of His corrupted human followers in ages past. That temple housed dark relics that would grant our troops greater power. I also had to think of the troops' nourishment and healing, as we would be far away from the House of Pain.
Food – it is everyone's necessity... I quickly reasoned that we could transform some of your own factories into facilities that would crush human bodies and extract their blood. As for healing, every waste–treatment facility would do perfect job after being transformed to mix human blood and toxic waste (in precise proportions) and create a vile mixture that would heal us. I also had plans for the usage of a powerful demonic drug, but Baphomet decided that we would not need it for now, as the facility construction would have taken too long. I knew that well, so I agreed and instead decided to appoint some Arch Viles in Hell who had to go the area known as Blood Falls and work on a special task I gave them...
You had, in the meantime, entered the Fortress of Mystery after making that amazing discovery that there was actually an invisible building. But the fact that the Barons and the Cacodemons were separated and unwilling to cooperate was the failure of the plan – you managed to slay both groups but you were seriously injured. I hoped that the blood loss would finish you off but you had already gathered sufficient knowledge of Hell and managed to use a Soul Sphere to heal yourself. Enraged, I warped into the Tower of Babel and was pleased to find out that it was complete. Knowing that you were very close, I gave the order for the ritual to begin and went back to the Plains of Sorrow where the troops were awaiting. But I knew that an observation orb would not interrupt the spell, so I watched carefully.
The Cyberdemon Overlord stood in the sanctuary's center, between the four sacrificed Barons of Hell, and chanted ancient spells, known only to the infernal inhabitants of the Obsidian Canyons. As the Lost Souls began their ghostly singing, I felt tremendous power moving around the Tower in the form of shining clouds of arcane energy. Tremendous bolts of lightning shattered the skies and a halo of sparkling gas crowned the Tower's roof. The incantations were intensifying and slight tremors shook the whole Tower. Unnatural light was shining from all windows of the edifice. The Cyberdemon reached the climax of the spell, at which he screamed with full force and his body was barely enduring the swirling energies that threatened to tear it into pieces.
Then he went silent.
Seconds after that, a powerful crash was heard and a roaring stream of energy poured out of the Tower and hit Hell's skies. I felt that tremendous energies permeated every corner of Hell and the very fabric of reality was twitching and pulsating in agony. A few seconds later, it became silent. No movement, not even wind disturbed the scene. Then a loud crack was heard and enormous Gates opened before us. Many Gates – big enough for whole armies to pass through. And beyond them, we beheld the green fields of the Earth and its cities – ripe for destruction. We had succeeded. The invasion was about to begin.
You did not notice at all what happened. You entered the Tower after it was all over. The Cyberdemon decided to wait for you on the building's roof and take care of you personally. I was busy commanding the troops in battle and I did not watch what happened on that roof. But I felt it. It must have been quite a fight you had up there. Your anguish and exhaustion could be felt. As could be felt your terror at the sight of that, which awaited you there. But soon afterwards, I felt a terrible eruption of anguish which told me that the Cyberdemon Overlord had fallen. I was so surprised that I hastily summoned the other twelve and argued with them for a while. As before, they tended to underestimate you.
They told me that they had set up a levitation device that would allow you to descend into Inferno. Certain that you would decide to descend into Hell itself, they assured me that once you went down to Inferno, you would never survive. The demons there and the Master Spider would be your doom. They told me that Inferno's fortifications had been strengthened so there was no chance for you to escape to the other side of the continent, where Baphomet's citadel was. I agreed and decided to let you go into Inferno. I secretly hoped that this time we would succeed.
At the same time, the demonic armies marched across the Earth and razed the unsuspecting sleeping cities. Greatly surprised at first, the humans soon started making attempts to retaliate, though most of those attempts were complete failures. Baphomet knew that you would all try to escape through your star port and he gave me a special mission regarding it. Something about a great force field...