Chapter 2: Return of Something Precious
Hell is never a fun place to vacation at, let alone live or work in. What with all the lava, bones, and mangled corpses of the damned. But at least until relatively recently, there was no confusion as to what the goal was: to generally invade worlds and destroy them, for the harvesting of argent energy. And the Maykrs were content to let them do so, as long as they were in charge and they could benefit.
Most recently, Earth had been invaded with three Hell Priests at the helm: Deav Grav, Deav Ranak, and Deav Nilox. All brutally butchered the the Slayer of course These three had been priests of Argent D'Nur, before being corrupted by Hell; both physically, and by the allure of power.
But now, with Davoth and the Khan Maykr dead, the question of who ran Hell, and what its purpose was, rose for the first time. The presumptive leader would have been Erebus, Archdemon and second only to Davoth in this realm. A bloated, horned, red, tentacled mass with a huge mouth on his abdomen. He was the Slavemaster of the Damned, and a great fit to keep the argent going. The current Maykr leadership certainly wouldn't complain. They might even consider re-opening a portal between Hell and other worlds, for their benefit, if this power vacuum was resolved. But, there was something preventing this.
A Revenant, whose humanity reminded him of his life before, now had the chance to re-evaluate Hell. He wondered if the mayhem and carnage was for the best. Allowing redemption and rehabilitation would be better; he of all demons would favor this approach, if he could build a following. A Hell where their souls were retained would not be as profitable, but this wasn't a concern for him.
Like all demons, his soul was drained upon death, and converted to the argent energy used by many. His corporeal body transformed into this abomination. But after the Slayer mind-melded with him, part of his soul returned, and grew from there. He came back to Hell after "meeting" with the Slayer, and wanted to try restoring the souls of some fellow demons.
At first he experimented by simply shoving argent into a demon. Imps or soldiers, small and weak as they were for demons, would be the easiest and safest until a more reliable method could be proven. This method only killed them or angered them. Fortunately, being Hell, the physical form of a demon would respawn.
He decided to try repeating what had worked before. He wanted to construct a machine similar to what the Slayer used to interact with him on Earth. He couldn't exactly go back to the machine itself though, since the earth was blocked off.
He remembered the basic idea: The target demon would be in a large metal cylinder, with its brain cavity connected to the inside. Wires would travel to two waist-height pedestals in front of the cylinder. He had been in such a cylinder, and the Slayer had put his hands on these pedestals in order to transfer his consciousness temporarily into the Revenant.
The Revenant could only guess as to the purpose of this machine-perhaps one of the Hell Priests used it to experiment transferring their own mind into a demon? But they were demonically corrupted themselves; no lasting effect would remain, and the soul would not be restored. But this was just a guess.
He did his best to create such a device in his cave, in a secluded corner of Hell, experimenting with ways to transfer consciousness. He had to be careful about where and how he did this work; Marauders and Archviles were the most intelligent among demons. They might ask questions, inform Erebus of this odd Revenant, or simply kill him if they didn't like the look of things. They could be persuaded to join him if he had enough success, but that was a big "if".
He built this cylinder, with two nodes next to the target's head. Wires ran from here to two pedestals he erected in front of this, each also with a node. He surmised that argent would flow from him, through the pedestals, to the target demon. He could afford to spend argent. Now that he once again had a working soul, he could recover this expense.
The final questions were what to make the wires from, and how fast this flow should be. Again, he tried with Imps at first. Some only died, while others exploded. "Note to self: Reduce the flow and try again", he decided. The wires made from glass did the best.
Finally, he had some success. An Imp survived the procedure, and gave the Revenant a look uncharacteristic for a brutish thing. A knowing, though confused look. The Revenant remembered how this stage felt, as if a dawn had newly arrived and the fog of mindlessness had lifted.
The Revenant and the Imp waited in his cave, with the Revenant ensuring no other demons would be in earshot. He waited for a few hours, before trying conversation.
"Hello. I am here, and we used this machine. Do you understand?"
The Imp seemed receptive, as if he knew the words, but couldn't form the words right away. He gestured toward the machine.
"Yes. You were in there. I brought you here."
The Imp looked outside the cave, and then back at the Revenant. Finally, after appearing he wanted to ask a question for a few moments, the Imp asked, "...Hell?"
"Yes. This is it. Your soul was drained, but some has come back."
The Imp may not have been fully able to comprehend these words, but knew what "Hell" was. With time, more of his humanity returned. The Revenant told him more fully of what had happened.
The Imp finally asked the Revenant a question, in addition to how his soul had returned. A question even the Revenant had no idea of. "What is your name?"
The Revenant tried to remember his name while alive. Nothing came up. But something eventually did, and it was the best answer: "Daizen. Daizen is my name." This was recalled, and formed, from some of the argent that he had received from the Slayer. Maybe it was a loved one of the Slayer, or similar? It was an identity. Something he hadn't had for so long.
He repeated the process with a few other Imps and some other demons, including an Arachnotron, which resembled a giant brain on four robotic legs. This one was significantly stronger than the previous ones, though larger yet would be needed.
These demons had mixed reactions to their bodies, after they regained some human consciousness. Some were horrified, others sorrowful. Daizen did his best however to tell them why he had done this, and after they were in charge, a new bodily form could be fashioned.
This group grew in earnest, and kept their existence a secret from the others. Especially the Marauders, who didn't go through the same process as other demons. They had not been drained of their souls upon death, but instead they had been warped into service for the Khan Maykr, and then Davoth. And now, Erebus. Probably. One such Marauder who had fought the Slayer even recounted fighting alongside him, though now denounced him as an "usurper", telling him, "You were never one of us", or a true member of Argent D'Nur.
Daizen would almost certainly need to win them over, or some of them. Their chief trait was their intelligence and remaining humanity, whatever little there was. With Davoth and the Khan Maykr both dead, this grip could be broken, if the Marauders thought regaining their original honor was possible, or Erebus otherwise appeared weak.
He gathered his group: "I'm thinking a Marauder would pay attention to us if something were in it for them. From what I understand, they were human but only joined with the Maykr leader when they thought that betrayal was the lesser of two evils", the Revenant told his group. "But they themselves were betrayed, and served the only master available. It was either that, or be harvested."
"Did they tell you this?", one of the Arachnotrons asked.
"I hear things, they talk amongst themselves and with other higher-level demons out of frustration since they have no current purpose. Their remaining humanity is a curse in that way. I also don't think they would expect a Revenant, which is what this body is, to speak to them, so I have to eavesdrop."
"Other higher-level demons?"
"Yes, the Archviles, and the Tyrants. They however are not made from the damned. They are 'native' to Hell itself. And incredibly tough."
"Could they help us too?", a recovered Mancubus asked. The Mancubus resembled an incredibly obese humanoid, the size of a small elephant, with flamethrowers for arms. He also had been cautioned not to speak around the more intelligent demons.
"I doubt it. They have no 'humanity' to restore. The Tyrants may be 'useful idiots' in our fight, being as dumb as a plank of wood. Some short-term payment may work, but they would be unpredictable. Cruelty is their only trait, which they use to bully lesser demons with. Little more than twenty-foot-tall man-like things with missiles and lasers. But we have an advatage with them-they would be less likely to predict our intentions, or question why demons that don't normally speak, do."
"And the Archviles?"
"They're a different story. Far more intelligent, but they may push the Marauders into our arms due to ego and hubris. Especially since they are native and the Marauders are not. When the Marauders recall their former human identities or wonder what their purpose will be now, the Archviles accuse them of a lack of loyalty. They've even said on occasion that if they had no purpose, they should just be harvested now. Slowly. The Marauders are quick to reaffirm this loyalty, but this is piss-poor leadership."
Archviles, the most powerful and intelligent demons normally seen in combat by the Slayer. They are twelve feet tall, and resemble classical demons except they are hornless. They also have a grey exoskeleton, clawed feet and club-like hands. They have the ability to teleport and summon other, quite powerful demons when in combat with the Slayer.
The others agreed this could be an opening. Daizen then concluded the meeting: "So that's our plan then. We need them on our side if we want to challenge Erebus. And we also have regained one critical advantage overall: our human intellect. The typical demon doesn't have that."
The group would then wait until a Marauder was alone, and pitch their idea to him. Selection was also critical, since it could be dangerous if the Marauder wasn't keen. The group dispersed, and kept an eye out for the right target.