Hello there! Welcome my friends to the next chapter of Light Bringer Stories: The Witcher.
I know it's a bit late, but here it is.
And now review time.
RedHood001: I'll admit, it was one of the things I enjoyed most about writing it and wanted to get right. Happy you like it.
And now time for the story.
Touching down on the dark floor inside Lucifer's Penthouse, where the Angel of Death let go of Geralt as her crimson wings folded back into her, making her appear as just a regular human.
"From what Luci told me, that's two task's down." Uri said happily, "One more to go right?"
"Yeah, one more." Geralt said with a thankful nod, "Again, thanks for the help."
"What are friends for?" Uri said with a smile, "...Mind if I stick around until Luci comes back?"
"Well, it's your brothers place." Geralt said with a shrug, "Want to watch one of those, what were they called, movers?"
"Their called movies, but sure." Uri said, as she walked to the tv, "Which one do you want to see? How about 'American Psycho 3: Possible After All'?"
"Sure Uri." he said with a smile before they turned to the bar where the sound of glass being moved was heard, "Lucifer, Potato, is that you?"
But instead of being either of those, it was an ashen haired woman Geralt hadn't seen in a long time.
"Geralt!" Ciri said happily as she placed the crystal flask with amber liquid down, walking around the bar to embrace her father.
"Ciri." Geralt said happily, as he returned the hug, "What are you doing here?"
"I should be the one to ask you that." Ciri said with a smile, "I live here."
"Oh, right. Still something I need to get use to." Geralt said stroking the back of his white hair, "How are you? Your not one to call Lucifer for help out of the blue."
"It's a bit complicated. We can talk about it over dinner." Ciri said before turning to the Archangel, "Hey Uri, I can see your making yourself at home."
"Hey Ciri." Uri said, having taken her boots and coats off and was now lounging around on the sofa as she flipped through the channels on the television.
Ciri shook her head before turning back to Geralt, "So what happened to your face?" she said, "A new scar?"
"It's a bit of a long story." Geralt said with a deep sigh, "But the Mark on my face, is it noticeable? Hard on the eyes?"
"...A bit. But you can't let it bother you." Ciri assured him, "You know, folk would stare at the scar on my cheek, always. It used to upset me greatly. I started undoing one shirt button more. Problem solved... for a while."
"What do you mean?" Geralt said.
"Well..." Ciri said her vivid green eyes looking to her left, "Lucifer started to walk into walls."
Coming out of the kitchen was Lucifer, wearing his casual outfit without the white blazer but instead he was wearing an apron, "Hello, everyone." he said, "The curry is almost ready."
"Hold up, curry?" Uri said as she suddenly sat up, "The one you got from that restaurant from Harwood County?"
"Of course." Lucifer said with a wink
"Harwood County?" Geralt said.
"I know weird name for a city, but then again it's in California. One of the weirdest states in the USA along with Florida and Ohio." Lucifer said with a shrug as he fixed himself a drink, "I found myself there a few decades ago, I had a sudden craving for curry and I knew this one restaurant famous for it. It was a small place run by this couple with the husband being the chef. I took one bite from the dish and it was perfect. Perfect, everything, to the last minute detail."
They sat down at the dinner table, drinking, sharing stories as they enjoyed the curry Lucifer had made.
"...So Odin went all dramatic, 'Without the hunt, the world will get ever worse over millenia. It will no longer finds its release. Brother will kill brother. Blood will soak the Earth.'." Lucifer recounted, "And I was like, 'Oh doesn't that sound terrible. I'm not sure anyone will notice, Allfather. You're being so very dramatic.'."
"I thought your dad was God." Geralt said with a glass of vodka in hand.
"God as in capital G, God, yeah that is him." Uri explained, "But gods, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors, those are real too."
"Though not all gods are the same, Geralt." Lucifer said knowingly, "Norse gods pretty gay. Greek gods turbo gay. My mum... More stone the gay away kind of vibe."
"W-What does that have to do with anything?" Ciri said with a laugh.
"Because Greek gods, especially Zeus, have done things of a sexual nature that makes even me go, 'What the actual Hell'." Lucifer said, "Though I have to admit, I have a high distain for Zeus. Though I'm sure he's not fond of me either, with his wife and all his daughters and a few of his sons lusting after me."
"Except one." Uri teased.
"We know I loved her, it's the only reason Hera didn't pull a Heracles on her." Lucifer muttered as he began to poke at his food, "But we don't know if... If she actually felt that way about me..."
Everyone at the table could see Uri giving her older brother an 'Are you serious?' expression as she said, "If I got a gold coin for every time you two had sex, I would have more money than Mansa Musa ever had!"
"...You two are talking about Kassandra, right?" Ciri said, as she began to poke at her own food.
"...Yeah. But don't worry. I'm totally behind Cirifer." Uri said as she tried to cheer her up, "But seeing as we're telling stories about the past, I got one. It's actually become a fairy tale in some Worlds, but it actually happened."
There were once three brothers who were traveling along a lonely, winding road at twilight. In time, the brothers reached a river too deep to wade through and too dangerous to swim across.
However, these brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water. They were halfway across it when they found their path blocked by a hooded figure.
"Congratulations. Most people don't make it this far, travelers usually drowned in the river." Uri spoke, "Each of you, have earned a prize. For being clever enough to evade me."
She walked closer, turning to the eldest brother, "What do you wish, Antioch?"
The oldest brother, who was a combative man. "I wish for a wand with power beyond any other, a wand that must always win duels for its owner." Antioch said, "A wand worthy of a wizard who has conquered Death!"
Uri held out her hand, and a blaze of golden mist she fashioned a fifteen inch wand made of elder before handing it to the eldest brother.
"And what do you desire, Cadmus?" Uriel said.
The second brother, who was an arrogant man, decided that he wanted to humiliate Uri still further and asked for the power to recall others from Death. In the same golden mist formed into a black stone, which was snatched out of her hand at once.
"I will take her back from you." Cadmus sneered before stepping back.
Then Uri turned to the third brother, "And so my dear Ignotus." she said, "What would you like?"
The youngest brother was the humblest and also the wisest of the brothers, and he did not trust Uri.
"May I have something..." the youngest brother said politely, "That will ensure me that you do not follow me from this place?"
Uri's smiled unfailingly at him before she, though most unwillingly, took off her cloak.
"Here, take it." she said kindly.
Then Uri stood aside and allowed the three brothers to continue on their way, and they did so talking with wonder of the adventure they had had and admiring Death's gifts.
In due course the brothers separated, each for his own destination.
The first brother traveled on for a week more, and reaching a distant village, sought out a fellow wizard with whom he had a quarrel. Naturally, with the Elder Wand as his weapon, he could not fail to win the duel that followed.
Leaving his enemy dead upon the floor the oldest brother proceeded to an inn, where he boasted loudly of the powerful wand he had snatched from Death herself, and of how it made him invincible.
"I have secured my place in Hell, you know." Antioch said, as he looked at the wand.
"What you do is your bunsiss mister." the barman said, cleaning a trunkard, "I just want to get paid."
"I cheated death to get this. I hold the Devil's hand." Antioch continued, eyes fixated to the stick made of elder wood, "It's funny, I feel guilty for shaking it. I'm proud to wield it."
"Aren't ya a bit scared?" the barman asked, "That the Devil will come after ya?"
"Why be afraid..." Antioch said with a smile, "When you have the power to kill the Devil himself."
That very night, another wizard crept upon the oldest brother as he lay, wine-sodden upon his bed. The thief took the wand and for good measure, slit the oldest brother's throat.
And so Uri took the first brother for her own.
Meanwhile, the second brother journeyed to his own home, where he lived alone. Here he took out the stone that had the power to recall the dead, and turned it thrice in his hand.
To his amazement and his delight, the figure of the girl he had once hoped to marry, before her untimely death, appeared at once before him. She was sad and cold, separated from him as by a veil. Though she had returned to the mortal world, she did not truly belong there and suffered.
Finally the second brother, driven mad with hopeless longing, killed himself so as to truly join her.
And so Uri took the second brother for her own.
But though Uri searched for the third brother for many years, she was never able to find him. It was only when he had attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son.
"My dear, Ignotus." Uri said with a kind smile, "Are you ready?" holding out her hand.
"I had a full live." Ignotus said with a smile on his aged face, "I'm ready, my dear Death." before he reached out.
His wrinkled old hand accepted hers, greeted her like an old friend and went with her gladly, and, equals, they departed from this life to the great beyond.
"Hold up." Lucifer said smugly, "He actually thought he could kill me?"
"I was sitting a few tables away from Antioch when he said it." Uri said with a nod, "Almost killed him there and then for claiming he could kill my favorite brother."
"I'm more curious about the fact you had an Invisibility Cloak?" Ciri said interested, "Why would you need one?"
"So she can sneak up on people." Lucifer said dryly, "Sometimes Uri gets bored of running at them, flapping her arms and shrieking..."
"Well I don't need it, since I can make myself completely undetectable... But it was a gift... The only one I had ever received from my mother..." Uri said as she looked down to her food, "I miss my cloak..."
"You know, if you miss your cloak so much, go get it back." Lucifer pointed out, "You can easily track your artifacts."
"Of course, I know where it is. I know where all three are. " Uri said as she ate, "The problem is, I can't get my cloak back until the last of Ignotus decendens has died. The ring is now burried somewhere in a forrest, I could actually get it back. As for the wand it's with... well..."
Uri suddenly stopped talking, averting her gaze to her food as her cheeks turned a shade of red, something that wasn't lost on her older brother.
"So Ciri." Geralt said, trying to move the attention away from his friend, "What was so important that your boyfriend was needed."
"Oh, right." Ciri said, realizing what he was doing, "So I was looking for a birthday present for a special someone, but he is a bit difficult when he literilly already has everything. So I thought something of his favorite band would be nice. Remember that world I mentioned? The one where people had metal in theirs heads, waged war from a distance, using things similar to megascopes and there were no horses, everyone had their own flying ship?"
Geralt nodded.
"It was there and only there I could find it." Ciri said, "During my seach there, I crossed path with two merc's or Edgerunner's."
"I think Cyberpunk is also a different term for them." Lucifer said, before drinking some of his wine.
"Right. I crossed path with two of them, and our goals aligned so we decided to help each other." Ciri said, "But things never go the way you want. We got cornoer just outside of Night City, by a corporation named Arasaka. There were after something one of the merc's had."
A day earlier, Ciri was holding her sword as she and the two female merc's where in the back of a Chevillon Emperor 620 Ragnar.
One of them was a tanned Aldecaldos woman named Panam was trying to start the car, while another woman named V was holding her revolver. The car shook from the impact of explosions near the car as Ciri searched through her contact's until she found the one named 'My Devil'.
"What are you doing?" V said, noticing what was old tech for her.
"Calling for back-up." Ciri said dailing the number, she held it to her ear, "Come on, Luci. Pick up."
Almost at once, the call was anwsered when his deep voice spoke, "Cirilla, missing me already..."
"Luci, I need your help." Ciri said immediatly, "I need you to come to Night City."
"Wait what?" Lucifer said, "Hold on, I'll be right there."
But what surprised her more was the other voice she could hear, the gruff voice of Geralt, "What's wrong with Ciri?"
"Nothing serious." the voice of Lucifer said, moments before he hung up.
"Why do I hear boss music?" the gruff voice coming from V said, "And it's not mine..."
It was at that moment that the clouds parted, as something impacted on the ground causing it to erupt, sending Arasaka soldier's and their vehicles flying.
"What is that?" Panam said as she looked out the window.
"My Devil." Ciri said with a smile as she saw who had caused the ground to erupt.
Lucifer's was standing in the newly created crater and with Paradise Lost in hand, he started to mow down the Arasaka Soldiers effortlessly, the ones not immediately struck down tried to shoot at him with their rifles, but it didn't matter.
The Arasaka Commander, watching the battle from the Daisasori Urban Combat Cyberwalk, could do nothing but watch as the newcomer effortlessly slaughtered the Arasaka Soldiers, with movement so fast that it even surpassed users of a Sandevistan.
One of the Soldiers yelled, "Grenade!" before actually throwing one.
Lucifer catches the grenade thrown in his direction, one-handed and without looking. Before throwing it back hard enough that the grenade pierced a soldiers chest before it exploded and showered his fellow soldiers with red and chuncks of flesh.
The Daisasori Urban Combat Cyberwalk began to fire upon the man, enveloping in in orange fire. With his white coat billowing behind him as he stepped out of the flames.
"Now you meet your end." Lucifer said as he then pushes forward with such speed that he disappears and faint after-images follow.
Reality seemed to be slashed to ribbons before Lucifer reappears behind the Arasaka forces and sheathes Paradise Lost, after which the slashes take effect and destroying any of the Cyberwalker's and slicing to pieces any of the Arasaka forces caught in it.
With his Cyberwalker destroyed, the Arasaka Commander was caught in the explosion and thrown out of it. With a sickening crunch he landed on the ground, his legs broken to a pulp.
He tried to crawl to the radio to call for back-up, but he was stopped when he felt a boot being stepped on his head.
"Oh God." the Arasaka Commander groaned in pain as the boot began to press down on his head.
"Oh no, not God." Lucifer growled, "The opposite." before pressing his foot down and turning the head into red paste.
Then the only sound of where the burning wrackage of the Arasaka forces. Their attention was drawn to the back of the vehicle, where it sounded like the back of the trunk was being ripped off. Both V and Panam raised their guns and aimed it at the back, just in time to see Lucifer rip the trunk open, "Hello there." he said with a smirk.
"Hey Luci." Ciri said with a smile.
A few minutes later, Panam was trying to fix the engine as Lucifer was talking with V and Ciri.
"Lucifer Lux." he introduced himself, "At your service."
"Lucifer Lux?" V said surprised at the man's first name, "As in the..."
"The Devil." Lucifer said with a nod, "Exactly."
"Is that a stage name?" V said, still a bit unsure.
"God given." he said with a light chuckle, "I'm afraid."
"...Right." V said, not sure if she believed him.
"Careful V." a deeper voice said as what best could be described as a visual glitch, a man Lucifer was familiar appeared, it was Johnny Silverhand, "This guy is not someone to mess with."
"Oh, really?" V thought as she glanced towards the digital ghost, "Did the fact he took out a small army of Arasaka solo gave it away?"
"I guess I would be a Solo, or maybe a Rockerboy." Lucifer said as he noticed the look V was giving him, "What?"
"Hey guys." Panam said before he could get an answer, "I can't get this engine to fix."
"Allow me." Lucifer said, sending a glance towards the car and without skipping a beat, it came to live much to the surprise of Panam, "What can I say? I can turn anything on."
The four of them were driving the Chevillon back to Night City, V and Ciri in the back seat with Panam driving as Lucifer had claimed shotgun.
"...Then I joined up with Jackie." V explained a bit of her past, "Been an merc ever since."
"From what I can see, your pretty good at it." Ciri said.
"Speaking of being a merc, ever heard of David Martinez? He's a kid I sponsored a year or so back." Lucifer said suddenly, "Was downing drinks in the Afterlife before he knew it... I meant Afterlife the bar, Cirilla."
"I know." Ciri said with a nod, "It's where I met V and Panam."
"David Martinez? Yeah, I heard about him." V said resting against the backseat, "He was a person of interest for Arasaka Counter-Intel."
"That's my boy. Wonder how he is doing." Lucifer said with a proud smirk, "Arasaka... Wonder how Hanako is doing."
"Hanako Arasaka?" V said with a raised eyebrow, "You know Hanako Arasaka?"
"I know her very intimately." he said but it was obviously she didn't believe him. But his attention was turned to the radio as 'The Ballad of Buck Ravers' came on, "Oh, I love this song. Do you like Samurai?"
"Their okay." Panam said, leaning an arm on the open window still.
"Their early work was a little too punk for my tastes. But when 'Chippin' In' came out in 2020, I think they really came into their own, commercial and artistically." Lucifer said with his feet kicked up, "The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. Johnny's been compared to David Bowie, but I think Johnny has a far much more bitter, cynical sense of humor."
"V, hand on the trigger." Johnny advised, "Last time someone went on an rant like that, someone got axed."
"Yeah, because a bullet will put him down when a barrage of rockets failed." V thought dryly.
"I think their undisputed masterpiece is 'Never Fade Away'. A song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics." Lucifer continued, "But they should! Because it's not just about the damage the Corps inflict, and the importance of never giving up, it's also a personal statement about Johnny's relationship with Alt."
"Got to hand it to him." Johnny said with a smirk, "Satan knows his music."
"Thank you, Silverhand." Lucifer said with a smirk of his own before the radio got his attention, "Turn this up. Love this song."
"I ain't your average sicko." Lucifer sang along, "I'm dead, just like disco."
"My bank account is zero, zero, zero, zero, oh no!" Ciri joined in, "I think I need a hero!"
"I don't have no ego, 'Cause I'm spitting out now!" V suddenly began sang, "I was a teenage outlaw, with no worries on my mind!"
"And now I'm getting older." Panam decided to join in, "My heart is growing colder all the time."
"I was a teenage outlaw, with no worries on my mind." Lucifer sang, "And now I'm getting older, My heart is growing colder all the time!"
"I was a teenage outlaw, with no worries on my mind." the four of them sang together, "And now I'm getting older, my heart is growing colder oh that's fine."
As the song concluded, the four of them shared a laugh.
"Nice." Lucifer laughed.
"Yeah." V said leaning back into the backseat, "We should do this again sometime."
"We should." Lucifer said, taking a card from inside his coat and handed V a card, "Give me a call if you need anything. You helped Cirilla, so I at least owe you a favor."
V looked at the red card, depicting a man with ram horns protruding from his forehead and the letters writing out 'XV. The Devil'.
"That's it?" Geralt said back in the present.
Dinner was finished and they were now eating their deserts, a special ice cake Lucifer had picked up from a country he called France.
"Y-Yes." Ciri said with an uneasy laugh, "We drove back to Night City, then we had a drink at the Afterlife, then we went home."
"Right." Geralt said, obviously not believing her, "Just who were you birthday shopping for?"
"Lucifer, of course." Ciri said gesturing to her boyfriend, "Samurai is is favorite band, but he has pretty much everything he desires. It's difficult shopping for him."
"I'm surprise you even have birthday." Geralt said, turning to the Devil who was sipping from his wine, "I thought you were older than time itself."
"I am. But I usually celebrate it on the sixth of June." Lucifer said, "With my birth year is usually one that makes me in my mid twenty to early thirty but it needs a six in it."
"So you would be born on June 6th 1246 in my World?" Ciri said with a smile, "I see what you did there."
"Though what I'm most curious about." Lucifer said changing the subject, "Who is the chap that managed to get my little sister's attention?"
"W-Wha? There is no..." Uri said with an uneasy laugh but Lucifer gives her an 'Come on, sis' expression, "O-Okay, yes there is someone."
"Well who is he?" Lucifer said with a devious smile, "I want to meet him."
And that was the chapter, hope you enjoyed.
A bit shorter than the previous one, and it's a bit more relaxed with some world building and a bit of Cyberpunk in it.
So... Who's going to tell Lucifer how Cyberpunk: Edgerunners ended?
Anyways many thanks to everyone who read, reviews, favorites or follows this, you beauties.
If you enjoy my work, don't forget to leave a review and I hope you will join me next time. Happy Holidays.