Chapter 57: The Calm
Warsaw, Poland
Warsaw was a disaster zone.
News crews from all over the world had begun to descend upon the Polish capital. Whilst the damage wasn't too severe, it was the causes of that destruction that brought so many eyes and ears the city's way.
A mamono, a very powerful one at that, and a valkyrie had engaged in a battle with each other across the city. The age-long war between the Chief Goddess and the Demon Lords had now finally spilled over into Earth. And Warsaw was caught in the crossfire.
However, while neither combatant could be found in the aftermath, their identities did not stay hidden for long. The mamono in question was Druella, one of the daughters of Lilith. She was, to say the least, infamous. As for the other, she would later be identified as Alice, the rogue valkyrie that had fled the United States.
While Arthur, Druella's father, had used his magic to help heal his daughter. Some of her wounds were too serious for even his level of magical skill, but this didn't matter much for the authorities on Earth. Shortly after the fight, both Druella and Alice were taken away by the local authorities. Despite the protests of Arthur, the Earthlings were firm, both of them caused a massive amount of damage and were threats. While Druella technically was just defending herself, her presence on Earth was alarming to say the least.
As for Alice, she had succumbed to the demonic energy of Arthur's blade and turned into a dark valkyrie. She was quickly contained inside one of the city's most protected cells. However, there was a fear that even that couldn't contain the now corrupted valkyrie.
Arthur quickly ordered his subordinates to inform his wife of the events. She had to know about Druella's condition as quickly as possible. With how extensive his daughter's injuries were, Lilith was probably the only one who could heal them.
Washington DC, United States
Back in America, Samson was quickly informed of the situation. To his shock and horror, not only had there been a lilim on the loose, Alice had been corrupted as a result. While he was embarrassed by her and her actions, he couldn't shake the anger and sadness that befell him upon hearing of her fate.
Under the recommendation of the president, Samson was given permission to travel to Poland to help guard Alice. The Order hero was adamant that the local officials couldn't contain her, and he certainly wasn't about to let his partner be guarded by mamono.
Former partner now, I suppose he glumly thought to himself as he finished packing his possessions. This was a disaster, not only had she gone and corrupted herself, Alice had also badly damaged the Order's reputation. But even more importantly, she had abandoned him.
Order heroes are often gifted valkyrie partners from the Chief Goddess herself. To guide them on the path of being a true hero. To help in their battles, to be their confidants, and even their friends. While love and romantic attachments were forbidden, they often still arose. But this only served as a tool for mamono to exploit in order to bring heroes down.
Samson felt something gnawing in his chest as he thought more and more about Alice. His friend and partner, now lost forever, unless he himself was corrupted and joined her.
But I can't let that happen, not for my sake, not for hers, and especially not for her memory!
Despite being given permission to travel to Warsaw, Samson wouldn't be allowed to go it alone. The president had made it quite clear that after this fiasco Samson and other Order associates were being given a short leash. While Druella's presence in the city and on Earth in general was a huge problem, Alice made it worse by engaging her on her own and without any previous permission. Coupled with several mysterious incidents around the globe that were potentially linked to her, trust in the Order by Earth governments was at an all time low.
So Samson was being accompanied by several members of the American special forces. Both as observers and as allies to take Alice back to the states. Though how she could be continued there as opposed to Warsaw was a mystery to Samson. Perhaps the American government was collaborating with Order mages to build some sort of prison?
Samson ultimately didn't know, but he did know that whatever would happen next nothing will ever be the same.
Demon Lord's Castle, Royal Makai
Lilith hasn't had much to do for quite a while, centuries in fact. She was content staying at home with her husband to try and gain enough power to alter her previous spell. To fix what she had unintentionally broken. Her daughters were content with going out into the world to do their own things. To make kingdoms, go on adventures, even create alternate dimensions.
Some, however, opted to do more than just make kingdoms and alternate worlds. Instead, they tried to spread her ideology, demonic energy, and the mamono way of life. And no lilim had gone down this path as much as Druella did.
Her fourth daughter was on a seemingly never ending quest to impress Lilith. Perhaps it was out of a true belief in her mother's goals for the world. Maybe it was to impress and find attention from Lilith. Or even it was out of a more primitive sense of trying to acquire power, like the monsters of old once did.
In any case, she was growing increasingly radical in her efforts to not only convince Lilith of escalating the war against humanity, but also in her tactics. Druella was determined, and the discovery of Earth and CRISPR threw a wrench in her plans.
Between her own personal interactions with Earth and all the rumors, Lilith knew that she had to keep Druella on a tight leash. But that proved more difficult than anticipated when her daughter fell off the face of the world!
Her summons for Druella, sent to Lescatie, had been met with silence. While her daughter was known for blowing most messages from the Royal Makai off, messages from Lilith were ALWAYS answered. So it meant either something happened, or Druella wasn't in Lescatie anymore.
It was this second possibility that worried Lilith more. Druella could more than take care of herself afterall. So where could she be? While the list of possible places was endless, there was of course one place Druella had been very interested in as of late, Earth.
If Druella has whisked herself off to Earth… the ruler of all mamono thought to herself. She simply wanted to cast away the thought, but of course that was impossible. Especially when a series of desperate knocks can be heard from outside. Lilith snapped out of her train of thought as she magically opened the door to her private chambers.
While she shared a bedroom with her husband, Lilith possessed a private chamber as an office of sorts. When she used to lead the war against the Order personally, when she used to govern the Royal Makai directly. Nowadays the room's uses were solely for study and contemplation. Or when she wanted to get away from annoying vassals and nobles.
Stylish dark violet and pink wallpaper wrapped around the room. Paintings of Lilith's family adorned the walls, save one where a chimney and fireplace sat. Purple flames billowed away, the excess heat leaving via a small balcony. Black drapes pulled away to reveal the demon realm sky.
In the doorway stood a demon, her luscious locks running down near her thighs. A pair of wings tightly tucked behind her back, with a robe of fine black arachne silk protecting her modesty.
The demon had a look of shock, fear, and sadness. Her lip trembled, her eyes held tears just about to fall. At the opening of the door and did a quick bow, the tears plummeted to the ground.
"My lady, your husband found Princess Druella," the demon hoarsely uttered. Lilith's eyes widened in horror as she swiftly made her way to the demon. She gently wiped away the tears as she looked into her eyes fiercely.
"Where is she? What has happened to my daughter?!"
So some, if not all of you, are probably wondering wtf has been going on. No updates for quite a while. Well to be honest it really comes down to two things, the end of college plus entering my career path, and a growing lack of interest in both this story and MGE at large. Mostly.
This lack of interest has been a killer of my motivation in this story for a while now. But I felt I owed it to you guys to try and keep going with it, I've never gotten such a large amount of responses and interest in something I created before now. It was, is, nice.
But I've now come to the conclusion that something seriously needs to change. Otherwise this story might never be truly finished. So here is what I am proposing. One, I continue the story myself, releases come basically when I'm feeling up to writing this. Basically what's been happening for these past few chapters.
Or, option two, someone else takes over for this story. Preferably someone with at least some previous writing experience on this site or on Ao3. That way this story can continue and I don't have to try and work up the motivation to continue with a project that I'm just not interested in anymore. If you or someone you know wants to take over, pm me and we can discuss it further.
I'll be reading the comments to see what the general vibe of this decision is. If people prefer option one or two, etc. And if people do decide on option two, I plan on writing up one more chapter after this one before handing it off to my replacement. IT WILL BE OUT BY THE END OF THE MONTH.
For those who are interested in my work as a whole and not just this story, I will continue to stay on . I've got some ideas for other stories, mostly one-shots. I've found long-winded stories like this one to not be my preferred style at the moment.
I want to thank everyone who has stuck by this story and I. All the way from that shitty first chapter with little to no edits. To this (hopefully) good chapter, still with little to no edits. The response I've gotten from this story has always blown me away, and I hope it continues to get good responses and feedback. Whether I'm still writing it or someone else.
Thanks, MojaveMarshal
