CHAPTER XVII: FLASHBACK

I sat alone in the dark hall. The only sound to disturb the brooding silence was the gentle crackling of the candles that were lit in the corners. I sat on my throne, thinking. I had ordered no one to come in for any reason. I sat and thought for quite some time. I thought about you and the crisis that grew bigger as the minutes passed. My thoughts turned towards destiny, predetermination and the roles of individuals in it. Did you have a special role? Did I have one? Or any of the denizens of Hell? I tried to imagine that all I have ever done was predetermined and planned long before I was even created. Who could possibly possess the power to design destinies? I realized that I have never thought about the creation of Hell, or the origins of its master – Lord Baphomet. How were all worlds brought into being – that question came before me suddenly. With it came the memory of my long gone youth... a conversation that I had with an elder demon at the ancient construction site of the Unholy Cathedral.

I saw it clearly, just as if I was there once again – young, scared and inexperienced... I talked with one of the elder warlocks – powerful demons that dwelled in hidden catacombs, but came out for the construction of that great unholy temple. How did they look like? Ah yes, yes – you have not seen them... Imagine a tall and mighty centaur with skin as red as freshly spilled blood. He tutored me for some time – helping me out as I first learned the ways of demonkind.

I admit I did not listen well when I was young. It was now that the warlock's words struck me and I fully realized their value.

Five tall towers surrounded a central shrine that glowed with unnatural power. The Unholy Cathedral rose proud over the continent of Inferno. Three of its towers and much of the central shrine stood as skeletons of beams and other elements – they were far from finished and there was a lot more work to do. The work was hard – the construction process involved the addition and careful adjustment of numerous magical elements. These elements were highly volatile and sensitive – each piece was set and attuned with the greatest care by the teams of warlocks. Tomes filled with arcane runes, orbs containing unquiet souls, enchanted skulls and bones, flasks containing eldritch substances, or even whole stained glass windows imbued with dark power were the elements that were installed with immaculate precision. They were set inside walls, under floors, in corners of rooms, on altars, or even floating in the air above specific points. All these pieces were ordered and aligned in such a way that they created a complicated network of power lines of energy currents. In a secret place within the Cathedral, the lines formed a focus that was to be used for purposes that were kept secret from everyone. There were also other, lesser foci and nexus–points that were to be used by the warlocks and Hellish priests.

I worked on a sacrificial chamber, slowly learning as I used the enchanted elements. The chamber was located in the northern tower of the cathedral. We began work on an empty platform under the hellish sky. When we finished the room already had a roof and walls – it was almost complete. The only thing left was to bestow power unto the altar that was personally shaped and ornamented by me. Inside the stone, I set an urn that contained potent demonic relics. I finished my ritual and stood back in uneasy expectation. Then I felt refreshed and confident – a powerful flow of dark magic flowed through the chamber and the ornamented antechambers that we had fashioned outside. That first success was the first moment of delight that I had in my life – a sudden moment of clarity that was now, for all time, a part of the hard work that went into the construction site. And the work was hard indeed – exhaustion and injuries of lesser demonic minions were a problems we had to deal with constantly. The overall productivity had to be kept high. There was also the fear of failures – punishments were severe and equal for everyone.

It was once after we had finished constructing the support pillars at a long hall with stained glass windows that depicted blood-drenched battles of demons and some creatures I could not recognize. The warlock and I sat in the Cathedral's inner yard. The time was what you humans would identify as "night", though there were neither days nor nights in Hell. It was a short period when the light was dim and the air became colder – phenomena that were common in the continent of Inferno. I was very exhausted and longed to have a few moments of rest. The warlock decided to talk to me about some things that I considered unimportant back then. He wanted to talk to me about the origins of our realm and the basics of a thing called "fate." He began by asking me about what I had learned during the day. I took a deep breath and told him about my discovery of the principles of primal magic and its place in all other disciplines of the arcane arts. He grinned and told me that I was advancing very well... and then began his tale of the important concepts.

It was unknown how the Multiverse first began. It is unknown what or who created it. But it was known that the great Demonlord, Baphomet, existed from nearly the very beginning. He existed together with other powerful entities that gathered together to lay down the designs of the world and determine the laws that would bind them. A small number of dimensions were set into the fabric of existence. Powerful artifacts, long forgotten, were four ancient runes of tremendous power. And the worlds... one of them was to be the neutral, "middle" world of the humans where the influences of all extradimensional entities would clash and interfere. A Netherworld was created – the realm where the souls of the dead would abide forever. Other dimensions and worlds were created, and order seemed to be brought into the raging void of existence. Yet something went wrong.

The great powers of magic bestowed upon humanity led to their corruption. Their world, that later came to be known as the Elder World, was blackened by an evil blight, and the great entities of Existence decided to bring about a great change. An enormous world, larger than everything ever created before. That world was to possess highly limited resources of magic so that the corruption would be prevented forever. Humans and other species that were to be independent (as they were deemed less important for unknown reasons) would abide that Universe, and the entities would not interfere with it. The Elder World and the several other original worlds were to be isolated from the Fabric of Existence forever. The mythical four runes were to be locked away in these worlds and forbidden to all... The primal worlds were to be guarded by ancient druidic deities (the warlock did not know the exact meaning of "druidic", he used the word as he had learned it) who were charged to keep these worlds and their forsaken denizens forever locked, bound to the rule of one chosen deity whose name was forever lost.

It was known that one of the last survivors of the Elder World vowed that humanity would one day claim its vengeance upon the dimensional entities that brought them their ruin. A man would arise to challenge fate itself and restore the balance in Existence. With the death of all denizens of the Elder World, the Netherworld became a powerful focal point of arcane power, as it was overloaded with the countless souls of powerful sorcerers. Every human of the Elder World had been a sorcerer to some extent... and the countless magic–wielding souls that dwelled within the original realm of the dead made it so powerful that, from time to time, it would tear the boundaries of the worlds and manifest itself in the mortal plane – in the form of ghosts, energy storms, humans that would gain magical power or visions that haunted mortal minds... And indeed – dim legends are all that remains of the memory of these original worlds and the powerful artifacts that they held sealed for all eternity.

These little problems were not noticed by the great entities as they had a much more important matter to take care of – a feud had erupted among the entities that were once coordinated and united in their goals. They divided into warring factions, and each of these groups left to create their own worlds in the vastness of Existence. Some of them created amazing worlds of arcane power and secret sciences. Others created worlds where intelligent species would develop uncontrolled, so that one day they would interfere with other civilizations. Still others went beyond the boundaries of dimensions and created their own domains there. Legends even speak of a great Arena built by one of the factions – an arena created for cruel entertainment and the pursuit of some other secret purpose... Among all these Deities, one set out to achieve His own goals alone. That entity was Lord Baphomet.

An embodiment of chaos among the other Deities of order, Baphomet had always been strongly bent towards what humans knew as "evil". He managed to focus all the corruption and hatred that were accumulated in the forsaken Elder World and accumulate them into one powerful nexus that spawned a vast new dimension built from pure chaos, evil, shadows and uncontrolled arcane power – Hell. With his power, the great Demonlord adjusted the flows of Existence in a way that would always bring the evil and darkened souls of living (or undead) beings from all worlds and dimensions into Hell and bind them there for all time. Thus, Baphomet hoped to gather a grand army of darkness and embark upon His ultimate task – the undoing of all Creation. From the swirling powers of corruption and foulness, Baphomet spawned a race of unrefined fire and hatred – the demons. Grotesque but powerful in both combat and spellcraft, this race soon populated the burning world of Hell, busy with their primary tasks – breeding and the torture of the souls that were trapped in there. With the expansion of his domain and the plans of conquest at hand, Baphomet needed trusted demons whose powers would be close to his own. These beings would be commanders and creators of passages into other worlds. They would be the Gatekeepers.

Destiny was a complicated concept that dealt with the predetermination of many facets of Existence. It was not known when and where that was determined. It was not even certain whether there was such a plan over the whole course of time. Some ancient artifacts, such as the Spear of Destiny could be related to this vague force. Their origins undoubtedly bound to the forsaken original worlds. Their presence in the new Universe could only mean that many of the deities had broken the ancient agreements and had brought artifacts from those worlds despite the danger that they could hold.

And if Destiny did exist – there was nothing anyone could do to change or stop it. Destiny was undeniable and everyone could only be caught in its merciless grasp.

After the talk, the warlock spoke to me about the responsibility that I would bear after my training was complete. Shortly afterwards he left me and went to work on the ritual summoning circles of the western tower of the Unholy Cathedral. I decided to spend some time by the river of blood that flowed near the construction site, looking over the mist–covered plains of Inferno. I did not care about what had just been spoken to me. I was still an inexperienced and unconfident demon that had no idea what his future was going to be...

The memory faded away and I was once again alone in the dark hall. One memory echoed in my mind – the thought of the human that would rise to restore some kind of balance that only the transdimensional Deities could comprehend. And then I pictured you. Could you, marine, be that human, destined to rise beyond the predetermined course of time and change it forever. A lonely individual that would change a plan set in motion millennia ago and bring about a new course that no one could have predicted. And what would follow in the future? A triumph... or the destruction of everything that had been built for eons?

Were you the chosen one? Could I stop you? And if you could not be stopped... what would be caused by you and what would the future be?

I stood up and went out. I knew I had to do something. The problem is – I had no idea what exactly.