CHAPTER XIX: CHAOS
You, human, know very well the bitter taste of failure and guilt. This is nothing compared to the weight of doubt – doubt that comes when you wonder whether you have done what was right. I have felt that doubt, and you have felt it too. Yes, marine, I know some things about your past and the fateful decision that you took several years ago. I saw the image in your mind – the image of those innocent people and your commander who ordered you to shoot at them. And then comes the moment of hesitation – only one short moment before the quick decision and the quick action that follows it. It was short and quick... but afterwards came the doubt – long and heavy. It never gave you peace; it has kept drilling inside you, darkening your days and befouling your nights to this very day.
I could not stop thinking whether I had done something wrong. Everything went well for millennia and then – a sudden turn of events that spawned chaos and catastrophes. The big question that still lingered was whether I could have done something about it... or the relentless mechanism of destiny was slowly moving closer to its goal that had been determined in ages past, upon worlds that no living creature had seen for countless eons. And then what? Surrender – not an option for me. Go on and fight – did I have the strength? What I had was a grim determination for vengeance and fulfilling the ultimate plan of conquest. Everything else was unimportant.
An armed and dangerous human near the star port was undesirable and I wanted to take care of it myself. But I could not – Baphomet had forbidden such interventions to be performed by the Thirteen and we had our hands tied. I often discussed different ways of destroying you with the other Gatekeepers – all of them wanted to see you dead and bring the Invasion to its victorious end. One of my brothers suggested that Baphomet had a plan that involved the usage of the Void Spheres. We all frowned on the mentioning of these artifacts – we hoped that we would not have to use them. The danger was great. No, human, the time has not yet come for me to tell you about those spheres. I can only tell you that we, Gatekeepers, knew enough about them to be afraid. Very afraid.
It was in that critical moment that my Lord decided that I have had enough troubles with you. Baphomet gave me another assignment – I was to direct Hell's actions concerning the unexpected allies that we had found with those so–called "Nazis" in their secret castle in Europe. I had to go there, monitor them, and find what I could about the artifacts they were hiding in the bunker, guarded by the Cyberdemon my Lord generously gave them. They did much to express their "heartfelt gratitude" by pretending to offer help to human resistance groups before exterminating them with surprise attacks. They gladly helped us, even though none of the Thirteen could understand why they did so. The important thing then was to benefit as much as possible from those fools. It was highly possible that they sought benefits too – perhaps they knew that many of their "great leaders" were currently inhabitants of Hell. The scientists, Schabbs and von Giftmacher, were morphed long ago into demonic entities that helped our armies with their talents.
Rain was one of the things about your planet that demons hated the most. That day there was much rain and it poured down upon me and my few chosen minions as we stepped out of the Gate and emerged in front of an old castle, high in the mountains. Soldiers in blue uniforms opened the gates – they pretended to not be specifically impressed, but I could smell their fear as demons entered their hideout. The chamber we entered was heavily ornamented with flags, portraits and various symbols. One picture caught my attention – it depicted something that seemed to be a mountain of eldritch fire. On its top stood a spear with a shining golden blade. The Spear of Destiny – a powerful artifact I knew very little about. These humans seemed to revere it very much – the way they revered whatever they kept hidden in the bunker several levels below us.
The castle's desolate West wing became my sanctum for my stay in this place. Truth be told, I was very frustrated to be stuck in this forsaken place, while you, the greatest of Hell's enemies were loose near the star port that was encased in a force field created by me. Lord Baphomet did not want any of his Gatekeepers to lose control over their emotions. I guess he did what had to be done. Yet there was doubt – doubt in my abilities and confidence to carry on. I will not hide that among the Thirteen was a clandestine game of influence and power. I was starting to suspect that my luck in that game was abandoning me – after the many years of success. I preferred to stay away from these humans and not bother with their petty problems and goals. They did a good job in producing weapons and ammo, as well as fighting against human resistance forces. And that was it – they had no idea of the great plans that were set in motion, they could not comprehend the point of everything that happened.
The dark stony halls of the castle helped calm me down and concentrate. The humans kept something hidden from me – I was sure. I clearly felt the presence of powerful artifacts throughout their headquarters. They kept things that they claimed were the legacy of the SS Paranormal Division that existed during the war they had led. They mentioned something about dealing with the undead and excavations in ancient crypts. That caught my attention – it seemed that my stay with them could be beneficial after all. If only I could get my hands on the artifacts that they possessed. These people were bold – they gleefully played with forces they did not understand. Their experiments had brought them knowledge that mortals were never meant to have. In the scheme of all things, their place was not clear. It was to be my pleasure to try and figure things out.
One day I succeeded in getting one of their officers, titled "Obersturmer", to talk to me about their secret research. He revealed that many years ago, in the days of the war, their paranormal division was involved with the undead, as they made excavations at a village – excavations that revealed a large underground complex of catacombs and forgotten crypts. There they discovered many powerful artifacts, though they never understood the purpose of most of the items that they dug out. He added that the whole thing had been related to some long–dead evil ancient ruler. I smiled – what he described sounded like the mission that one of my fellow–Gatekeepers was given centuries before. I knew that one of my brothers was to create a small army of the undead for experimental purposes. Those crypts and the artifacts inside could only be the remnants of his work...
The Spear of Destiny seemed to be the most important piece of that puzzle – an artifact with great power over the undead, and an unexpected gateway to Hell's catacombs that used to be inhabited by the enigmatic Angel of Death – the demon keeper of the darkest of human souls. The reckless humans experimented with the Spear and ultimately channeled its power to create a small rift in the fabric of reality. I frowned – rifts were similar to Gates, yet unstable, unreliable, very hard to control, impossible to navigate and highly prone to explode. The worst thing was that you could never know where a rift could lead. It was also possible that a rift would open into alternative images of reality, showing events that would never happen. It was within the Gatekeepers' power to open such portals, but none of us would do so. Through one such rift, the Nazis had managed to extract some artifacts after their team went through and was ambushed by "nightmarish creatures". They found someone there and supposedly brought him back. The unstable nature of the rift manifested itself by creating three exact copies of what was found and killing all but one of the team. The four identical bodies of whomever was found were kept locked in the sanctum and worshipped by the foolish humans who witnessed the events of that day.
I could barely contain my laughter – the humans were actually keeping some dead bodies and saw them as something valuable. The Obersturmer probably felt what I thought and quickly added that those bodies were charged with mystical energy. What a surprise – you get something out of a rift and it is charged with the essence of chaos. These humans' ignorance was truly amazing! I was still wondering why Lord Baphomet decided to spare them and count them as allies – they were useless. The thought that calmed me was that once the Earth was conquered, they would be taken care of too... That reminded me that one especially trouble–making marine was still out there – fighting through the infested star port that was near the city I ruled.
I wanted to know what was going on there, even though Baphomet had ordered that I concentrated on other tasks. I contacted one of my loyal Barons there and he informed me that the demonic troops were trying to trap you in the waste tunnels and destroy you, though you fought very well and the number of casualties was high. I told him to contact me if something unexpected happened and returned to my work in the castle. The previous day, the blue–uniformed soldiers had had a fight with a contingent of marines who were aware of their betrayal. They lost a few troops, many more were injured. My minions and I had to care about the security of the castle – the perfect opportunity to learn more about their discoveries. I was exhausted after the events of the last few days, but I quickly felt refreshed after discovering a soul sphere in one secret stash. Consuming the sphere gave me strength and confidence. In the following days, I discovered many more stashes where old demonic artifacts were kept – discoveries of the past days of research. Among them were some quite interesting items.
I found a Tome of Darkening – a book that was used to corrupt the souls of hapless humans and turn them into loyal disciples of the demon who used the tome. I had never used such disciples – humans were way too fragile and weak–minded, and thus I preferred to use Hell Knights. Later I found a Chalice of Hatred – a golden cup in which human blood was brewed and turned into a vile black substance that was used to increase the magical powers of Barons of Hell for a brief period of time. It is amazing how much destruction such Barons were able to create. In one secret chamber was a Demonic Halo – a black circlet that enabled demons to fly and attack their enemies with orbs of dark energy. I was pleased to discover an Urn of Gathering – a container designed to capture a soul that could later be used for some other purpose. In another chamber, among a few Blur Orbs, I found a small ornamented box that contained the Ashes of Oblivion – a vile substance in the form of grey powder that quickly dissolved the bodies of any living beings, turning flesh and bone into a highly corrosive liquid that emanated highly toxic vapors and could retain its potency for a very long time. Thankfully, Gatekeepers were immune to its effects.
These artifacts were valuable and I collected them all for my personal needs – I was sure the humans would not check their stashes soon. Besides, what right did they have to use the creations of Hell like this? They had undoubtedly discovered all these items in the crypts they excavated many years before. Now they rightfully belonged to me. I was glad that my visit to that castle would provide me with benefits. Those few items were definitely more useful than all the human troops and their weird ideas.
I wanted to return to the city and carry on with my normal duties. It was obvious that there was no need for me in the area, especially when there were problems at the star port. Problems that soon reminded me of themselves. The Baron of Hell sought contact with me urgently. When his face appeared in the magical orb, I already knew that you had caused something once again. I was right – the Spider Mastermind in the crusher facility was defeated, the troops were not coordinated and you were going deep into the facility, probably aware of the location of the Switch. The situation had deteriorated much and urgent action was necessary.
A few hours later, an ethereal apparition of Baphomet appeared and ordered me to return to the city...