Hello there! Welcome my friends to the next chapter of Light Bringer Stories: The Witcher.
After this one, I'll do one more chapter of Hearts of Stone before we move on to Blood & Wine.
And now reviews time.
Lupus: Thank you. I was thinking of a Cyberpunk story, but it's more of a brain fart at this point.
alexfilhoaqw: I was more talking when he finds out how Edgerunners ended, he would storm Arasaka HQ to kill Adam Smasher personally. I won't argue with you there, even if David and crew where a lighter shade of black.
And now time for the story.
With the beat of wings on the wind, Lucifer and Geralt landed in a alleyway just outside The Alchemy inn in Oxenfurt.
"Well then, here we are." Lucifer said as he began to walk towards the inn.
"You surprise me Lucifer." Geralt said, "Thought you wanted to know who Uri has her eyes on."
"Why yes, I am very curious what kind of being can demand attraction of my favorite sister, of Death herself." Lucifer said with a nod, "But I will have to wait until I can sate my curiosity. Helping you out of the deal with O'Dimm is a bigger priority for me."
He held the door open, letting Geralt go before him as the Inn was rather rowdy, a group from the Redanian Free Company, also known as the Wild Ones where there.
"The things I put up with for the people I care about." Lucifer said looking around as he followed after Geralt, "Wouldn't be caught dead here otherwise."
"Geralt! Over here." the leader of the Wild Ones, Olgierd von Everec, said, before gesturing him to follow towards a room in the back.
But the red haired man was surprised when Lucifer followed after the witcher.
"Who is this?"
"My lawyer." Geralt said dryly, "He's been giving me legal advice."
Olgierd gave a small chuckle at that remark, "Right. Now tell me, what brings you?"
"Vlodimir sends his love." Geralt said, handing Vlodimir's letter over to the brother, "Fulfilled your wish. And talked to him extensively. Curious what he had to say?"
Olgierd looked over the letter, "Vlodimir's hand... It's unmistakable." he muttered, "Do you have anything else?"
"I do." Geralt said, placing the ornate box on a nearby table, "Got you Borsodi's house. As requested."
Olgierd took a look over the objected, removing the top to find it empty to his disappointment, "The papers, where are they?"
"In the vault. You specifically mentioned you wanted the House, which you got." Lucifer pointed out, "It's contents where not part of the request."
"Very clever. Almost as tricky as O'Dimm himself." Olgierd said, turning to the blonde, "Keen to ridicule a man."
"I'll give you a fair warning, Olgierd. Never compare me to Gaunter O'Dimm. I do not take kindly to be compared to a bad imitation." Lucifer said in an eerily calm tone, "Geralt did the job, to the letter. If your not happy with how he did it, you should have been more careful with your wording."
"Yes. I should have." Olgierd admitted, "Confident one, aren't you? Proud, sure of your strengths, fearless..."
"As if I have anything to fear." Lucifer interrupted him, "Now I believe you have a third task."
Olgierd smirked before turning to Geralt, "Where did you find this one?"
"Met him on the path." Geralt said, "He's the boyfriend of my daughter."
"That would make you in-laws." Olgierd said, not sure if Geralt was jesting or not, seeing as witcher's where sterile, "Very well, third task. Listen well. I had a wife once. The day I saw her last, I gave her a rose, a violet one. Bring me that bloom. Wouldn't mind reminding myself what it looks like."
"When was that? How long's it been?" Geralt said, "Flower's wilted and turned to dust by now."
"You wished to hear a wish, now you have. Fulfill it." Olgierd said with his back to them, "I ride now to visit a Dauntless, but one of my men'll remain here. He;ll know how to find me. That is, of course, should you succeed."
"Least you could do is tell where your wife is." Geralt said.
"In my old manor, east of Martin Feuille's farmstead." Olgier said, turning to them, "I'd wish you gods speed, but... Well you understand, I'm sure. Goodbye, Geralt."
He returned to the pub, Lucifer gave him a frown as he watched. "So that is Olgierd von Everec..." he muttered to himself, "There was something... familiar about him."
"What do you mean?" Geralt said.
"It's nothing. Just a feeling." Lucifer said turning around, "Let's get going."
Some time later, the duo of witcher and Devil made their way through an unnatural fog as they approached the Von Everec Estate. The once great now with his sprawling gardens, large manor now sits abandoned and has fallen into disrepair as dark legends concerning it now circulate among its neighbors.
Close to the front gates, a man was shouting as he stood on one of the broken down walls, "Kendrick? Kendrick? You there!?"
"Not so loud." Geralt said as they approached.
The man fell backward in fright, it would have been easy for Lucifer to catch him but he simply took a step back as the man landed with a loud thud in the dirt.
"Ah! Gods..." the man groaned, "Scared me half to..."
"Your going to be completely if you don't shut the bloody hell up." Lucifer said annoyed, "Now who where you calling out for?"
"Me partner. We sneak into derelict houses." the man said as he stood up, "Always something valuable lyin about."
"So you're a thief." Geralt said.
"Thieves steal from the livin!" the man protested, "What's the harm takin from the dead?"
"Is that a serious questions?" Lucifer said before he walked forward but stopped when he spotted movement.
Obscured by the fog, a tall hooded figure, draped in a black cloak was dragging a corpse behind him as the sound of metal scrapping over stone echoed over the courtyard.
"Do you know what that was?" Geralt said standing next to him.
"I got an idea." Lucifer said as he walked into the garden, "And it might be even worse than I thought."
Following after the figure, the sound of digging become louder and louder. Lucifer busted open an iron gate as the two continued to walk, following the trail left by a body being dragged over the ground. In the backyard, the fog became thicker as they passed unmarked graves. Laid out in rows like a garden bed.
"Run along now, kitten." Geralt said to a black feline, sitting on top of a grave, "It's not safe here."
But when Lucifer turned to look, no cat was to be seen and even Geralt seemed surprise by it sudden disappearance.
Further from their position, the cloaked figure appears to be digging graves with an absurdly large spade. It suddenly stopped as if it noticed their presence. The figure turned and he removes his hood to reveal itself to be an animated, stitched together body with no face.
"It can't be..." Lucifer muttered.
Geralt gave him a quick look over before drawing his silver sword. The hooded figure comes charging at them, swinging his spade like a sword. Side-stepping the sing, Geralt was thrown back when magic erupted from the ground as the spade struck the ground.
The figure swung around in an attempt to hit Lucifer, only to have it bounce off his cane. Unbalanced by the deflected blow, Lucifer send out a wave of of black fire with an azure mixed in threw him back.
Lucifer frowned as most opponents would have been disintegrated by a single blast of hell fire, this only was cause for concern.
Twisting his hand, the flames reformed into bolts of fire striking the figure in the back. This time, it seemed to work as the figure was consumed by the flames immolating the figure.
"What the fuck was that?" Geralt said as the figure burned to ashes.
"A Caretaker..." Lucifer said watching the ash drift off into the sky, "It doesn't belong in this World."
"Then where did it come from?" Geralt said giving Lucifer a look over, "Hell?"
Lucifer shook his head, "No. There are more things in heaven and earth, Geralt, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." he muttered, "We need to investigate this place."
With a forward kick, Lucifer destroyed the door by sending it flying into a opposite wall.
Nostrils full of the smell of decay, ears pricked for any sound of footsteps or voices from overhead. Reaching the hall they started to climb the stairs, the dust that lay thick upon the stone, muffled the sound of their feet.
On the landing, they turned right, at the every end of the passage a door stood ajar, and a flickering light shone through the gap, casting a long sliver of gold across the black floor.
Stepping into the decaying master bedroom, there on the ruined bed laid the mummify corpse of what was once Iris von Everec.
"Damn it." Geralt said looking away from the corpse to Lucifer, "We need to find a way to talk to her ghost."
But the Devil didn't gave an immediate answer, he was standing in the middle of the room, as he turned slowly on the spot, examining the walls and ceiling.
"I believe you have your ways right?" Lucifer said, evidently concentrating on things Geralt could not see.
Lucifer approached the wall of the room and caressed it with his fingertips, murmuring words in a strange tongue that Geralt did not understand.
"I believe I have a solution." Lucifer said, as his cane appeared in his hand.
Taking Paradise Lost from its cane before slashing a rift in the dimension, creating a swirling portal to what appeared to be a version of the Von Everec Estate, filtered with oily paints.
"Let's go." Lucifer said placing his sword back into its cane, "But we need to be prepared for anything."
Geralt felt as if he was plunged into icy water, his clothes billowed around him and weighed him down. Taking deep breaths that filled his nostrils with the tang of oil and paint. The witcher found himself standing in the garden of the painted version of the manor he had just left, the portal having disappeared from behind him.
"Where are we?" Geralt said, looking around but he saw hide nor hair of the Devil.
"The name of this place would mean naught to you." came a voice that clearly did not belong to Lucifer.
This one was clearly female, but deep and full of authority. Hints of disgust and loathing permeated through it.
Looking in the direction, right on the stone wall sat the same cat from back in the real world, it's glowing amber eyes staring right at Geralt.
"Normally, I'd be shocked, but..." Geralt said, "What are you?"
"Clearly not a simple kitten." it said, "I'm a visitor, same as you."
"How did you get in here?" Geralt said.
"I exist in all places." the cat said, "This place was created from a mortal's dream. In life, it only existed in her mind, in death it gained substance. Touching Worlds far beyond this one."
"Pretty fantastic tale." Geralt said, "Hard as hell to believe."
"Believe what you wish, mortal." the cat said, spitting out that last word as if it let a bitterly disgusted taste in it's mouth.
"All right. This is lovely and all, but..." Geralt said, "Have you seen the man I went into this World with?"
"Unavailable to you at the moment." the cat said, suddenly disappearing and reappearing by Geralt's feet, "But you came here for Iris von Everec. If you wish to speak to her, tear her from her slumber. Completely and fully."
"What have you done with Lucifer." Geralt said, already having the feeling something was very off with this cat the moment he laid eyes on it.
"None of your concern, mortal." the cat said before disappearing completely.
Lucifer blinked, he wasn't in the painted world with Geralt. He laid on his back on the soft black couch. Sitting up he found himself inside his high rise apartment.
"Ah good. Your finally awake."
His eyes went wide in fear. It was a voice he hadn't heard in eons, and it belonged to someone he wasn't scared of. That wouldn't be strong enough of a word.
He was truly and utterly terrified of her.
Lucifer turned around and at the bar she sat, legs cross with her ankle met her knee.
She looked the exact same as the last time he had seen her. Tall, pale toned, androgynous woman, with a slim muscular build dressed in all black. The coat on her shoulders black as the void of space, it's tailcoats swirling like smoke in the wind.
"My little Light Bringer." she said, a small motherly smile gracing her face, "How good it is to see you again after all these eons."
"Where's Geralt?" Lucifer demanded to know.
"Funny, he demanded to know the same thing about you." she said in an amused nod, "The mortal is save, for now."
"Mum... How..." Lucifer said confused, "How is this possible?"
"You didn't honestly believed your father could keep my presence out forever? Infinite power clashing against infinite power. My influence has been felt for millennia through the Omniverse. For every thousand of plans he stops, I have a thousand and five hundred already implemented. I can't appear in this realm fully at the moment, but it just a matter of time." Yahweh said standing up but upon seeing the distrust inside her son's eyes she stopped, "I thought you would be happy to see..." turning away as if to hide her emotions.
"Why would I?" Lucifer said the fury in his voice clear as day, "You just stood there and let Dad banish me to an eternity in Hell!"
"I know. I wish I had spoken up for you back then. It is something I have regretted ever since... He discarded us both when we became too much, when we both rebelled at him." Yahweh said regretfully, "I truly wished I had intervened back during your rebellion. You were always the strongest of my children. You proved that when you helped shape reality at the dawn of time. If Michael hadn't wielded Force Calibur, if only you could have gotten to the sword first, not even your father would have been strong enough to defeat you and stop you from claiming the White Throne."
Lucifer gave a raised eyebrow as his mother approached him.
"But even Michael doesn't have your fathers trust. Forcing him to abandon Force Calibur into the mortal realms for fear of rebellion." Yahweh said, shaking her head, "But we can make this right. You can make this right." she looked at him with a motherly smile, "Since my banishment I have been building an army, enough Corrupted to blacken the Silver City. With my support and with you leading our armies, we can lay waste to the Silver City and claim the throne for you."
"For me?" Lucifer said confused, "You don't desire the throne for yourself?"
Yahweh let out a chuckle, her fingers touched his cheek sending a shiver through his body, "What mother doesn't want the best for her child?" she said, "Heaven, Hell, every World, everything in between. It can all be yours. All you need to do, is use Paradise Lost to shred the barrier keeping me out."
"What about the mortals?" Lucifer said suddenly, "What would happen to them?"
"We will have to cut out the very root of the problem." Yahweh said with a nod as she turned away from him, "The vermin created by your father need to be eradicated."
"Mum... Mortals aren't as bad as you think they are." Lucifer said, "Sure they are imperfect. They are messy, awkward, sometimes selfish and cruel. But they're trying, if only you would give them a chance."
"...You sound just like your Father." she snarled, shaking her head, "They injected these lies into their mind. I knew the risks of letting you go to the garden and interacting with that whore."
"She has a name and it's Eve." Lucifer corrected her, "And she did nothing to deserve what you did to her children."
"Well she cheated on her husband the moment someone else appeared, as you know. And I never made Cain do anything he didn't want to do and it was your father that turned him after that." Yahweh said matter-of-factly, "My little Light Bringer, I'm not unreasonable. Did I not prove so when I spared your pet? When she stopped the White Frost?"
"Her name is Cirilla." Lucifer growled as anger comes boiling up, a different kind of anger than he usually felt regarding his parents, "And she's not my pet."
"Don't you dare take that tone with me." Yahweh said sternly, just like a mother reprimanding her child, "I giveth and I'm not afraid to taketh away."
"You know... You almost had me." Lucifer was forced to admit as his glowing red eyes, "But I will never allow you to hurt the woman I love."
"I simply cannot." Yahweh said rolling her eyes and hands on her hips, as if she was done arguing.
Lucifer was thrown backwards, but instead of smashing through the window and onto the streets below he recoiled over a stone floor.
Looking up he saw that he was outside a familiar manor during the time of ancient Greece. He looked away as he saw whatever his mother had thrown him through had disappeared.
"Perhaps being stuck in your own Hell Loop will change your mind." her voice echoed through the place, "Consider yourself in time out."
Geralt found a way to awaken Iris von Everec. It took some tracking and a few key items, placing those in the right location of the painted world.
This resulted in him reliving memories that once belonged to Iris, but instead of witnessing them from her point of view, Geralt was a by stander. It was rather like one of those shows Lucifer had shown him on his television, except he was in the show.
Iris was from a noble family and, for a time, her family approved of her and Olgierd von Everec's courtship. However, when the von Everecs fell on hard times that led to them going bankrupt and losing their estate, Iris' family decided Olgierd was no longer suitable for their daughter and decided instead to give her hand in marriage to a visiting Ofieri prince, Sirvat.
Upset about this, Olgierd asked Iris to elope with him, but she didn't want to cut ties with her family.
So Olgierd, full of rage at not being able to marry his love, inadvertently brought a curse down on the visiting prince, turning him into a giant toad. The same one Geralt had slayed.
Sometime later, Olgierd made a pact with Gaunter O'Dimm and gained back his former noble position and fortune and thus, Iris. The two were soon happily wed, though her parents had reservations about it as Olgierd tended to hang out with bandit types, going as far as letting them into the house.
Over time their marriage declined as Olgierd started to no longer have feelings for Iris, an unintended consequence from O'Dimm's pact. At one point, Iris wished to divorce him so her father began to read over the reasons to Olgierd. However, Olgierd lost his temper during the reading and killed Iris' father, making her lose all feelings for Olgierd.
As more time passed, and with Olgierd only remembering that he was supposed to love Iris but had lost all such feelings due to the pact, he tried to placate it and gave Iris a mysterious being Lucifer had identified as the Caretaker for protection, not realizing she didn't want any of it.
Then, deciding he didn't want to cause her anymore pain, Olgierd left, leaving behind a letter and a violet rose to remember him by.
Traveling through the memories, Geralt found himself back in the library. Having been all through the manor, he had not seen hide nor hair of Lucifer nor had he seen the strange cat again.
"Where have you gone, Lucifer." the witcher muttered before he spotted something out of place.
To his right, he saw a navy blue door which hadn't been there before. Carefully approaching it, he didn't feel any danger from it, but his medallion was going crazy.
Touching the door, it evaporated into dust revealing an entirely different sort of world.
The sky as blue and sunny as Toussaint, the manor made of stone. The sounds of celebration came from the house, the sound of cups being placed on the table as food was consumed. On on guard, Geralt approached the house and at the front door, on the wooden bench next to it, sat the Devil himself.
"Lucifer." Geralt said.
Looking up from the ground, "Oh... Hey Geralt." he said, sounding so tired, "Sorry, I got a bit distracted in this... Hell Loop... Time flows differently here."
"Hell Loop?" Geralt said.
"One of the ways we torture souls down in Hell." Lucifer explained, "Making them relive the worst moments of their lives."
"Guess you have a lot of them." Geralt said, taking a seat next to him.
"Actually no." he admitted, "Just one or two..."
"Can't you escape from here?" the witcher said, "Thought you couldn't be trapped unless you didn't had your sword or wings?"
"I could... But..." Lucifer said, "Ah, it's starting again."
The celebrating from the house became louder as the front door was opened and two people stepped out. It was Lucifer, wearing a white toga with gold, which was in fashion at the time this took place.
The other was a woman, visibly muscular but decorated with scars from battle, attractive woman tanned by the sun. She stood a head taller than other woman though she was still shorter than Lucifer. She wears her hair in one braid pulled to the left side. She was wearing some sort of time appropriate light armor, a particular silver ring around her ring finger.
Geralt didn't know precisely why, but the woman strongly reminded him of Ciri.
"A happy ending to this odyssey." Past Lucifer said amused, "Last one who managed that was Perseus."
Geralt found it strangely uncanny to hear Lucifer speak without the accent he had grown accustomed to.
"Thanks to you." the woman said with a smile, "You were a big help, Luci."
"Your welcome, Kass." Past Lucifer said with a smile, "Though you made it worth it."
"Oh, really?" Kassandra said with a smirk, "How so?"
"Well, you meet interesting people, interesting creatures." Lucifer said with a smile, "Then you kill them."
"That's the only reason?... I think there is another reason for why you accompanied me. While you still do." Kassandra said, crossing her arms, "It's not because I entertain you, or because of my godly blood, or because of the sex. Because believe me, your great at that."
"Your not bad at it yourself. You would be the greatest at sex, if only I wasn't around." Lucifer said with a laugh, "But what is the reason then? Why am I still accompanying you? According to you?"
"Friendship." Kassandra said, "Even with everything you have, with all the parties you throw, with all the drachmae you have. I think you're lonely."
Past Lucifer smile slowly dropped, a expression of neutrality washed over to hide his true emotions. "You dare..." he spoke in a voice barely above a whisper, betraying the him as it was seething with barely contained anger, "You dare suggest one such as I might need your companionship?"
Kassandra was slightly taken aback by his sudden turn and how he spoke to her. But there was another reason she reminded Geralt of Ciri. She recovered quickly, standing tall and not backing down.
"Yes." Kassandra spoke defiantly, "Yes, I do."
"Then I shall take my leave of you and prove you wrong." Lucifer said as he turned around and stormed off.
"Right! I bet you'll be back next week!" Kassandra shouted after him but past Lucifer was already gone, "When you do, that will prove we're friends!... That will prove you love me..."
Suddenly, the scene froze in front of them. Current Lucifer stood in front of the time frozen Kassandra, his eyes unable to be let go of her chocolate brown eyes.
"It's true... I loved you. You where my first..." Lucifer admitted, "I know it's too late now. I know I could travel back, go back to this very moment and change the course of history... but that wouldn't be fair play, that would be cheating. If I could say one more thing to you, it's that I wanted to thank you. Without you and Emily... I wouldn't consider myself worthy of Cirilla..."
"Lucifer." Geralt said.
"I know Geralt. I know." Lucifer said trying to take in every detail of her as the Hell Loop began to melt away, "I loved you, Kassandra. Thank you, for your companionship."
They found themselves back into the master bedroom of the Von Everec Estate. But this time they were in the painted world.
"Apologies, I usually don't get so nostalgic." Lucifer said, turning to the witcher, "Thank you, Geralt for indulging me."
"It was you." Geralt said, "You created that door."
"I did. I knew you would figure out how to awaken Iris von Everec." Lucifer said with a shrug, "But we really need to close this... painted world. Even if it means being unable to fulfill Olgierd's wish."
"What?" Geralt said with a frown.
"I know I promised to help you Geralt, and I still intend to honor that promise." Lucifer said, "I have a solution to deal with O'Dimm, I always had. But I only wish to use it as an absolute last resort. But if we don't erase this World. If we don't do that, something will come through, a being that actively despises mortals, one that will not stop until all is turned to nothingness. And not even I could stop her."
Seeing the seriousness on Lucifer's face, Geralt gave a nod. After all, up until now he had been nothing but honest and helpful to him.
"Alright." Geralt said, "I'm trusting you on this."
"Thank you, Geralt." Lucifer said relieved, "Well then, after that detour, shall we speak with Lady von Everec?" gesturing over his shoulder.
Geralt followed it and by the fire place, where now a handsome fire was burning, they saw a pale woman dressed in completely black, with a veil of black covering her head.
"Lady von Everec." Lucifer began.
"I'm sorry." Iris spoke, "I thought you where someone else..."
"Olgierd?" Gerald said, "That's why we're here. I have need of the violet rose he gave you..."
"On the day we saw one another for the last time. I dried it and placed it in our chamber. At my bedside." Iris said as she looked into the fire, "I lay there for days, staring at it, until at last it crumbled into dust. As did I, soon after."
"So... the rose is gone?" Geralt said.
"Not in this world." Iris said, turning around to be holding the rose in hand, "I was held in a deep, dark sleep. Only now have I awoken... Tell me, how is Olgierd? Healthy? Does he fare well?"
"Your husband... He looks for ever stronger sensations. Tempting fate at every turn." Lucifer answered suddenly, "Because in his heart, he's unhappy."
"At heart he is stone." Iris said sadly, "So nothing has changed."
"There might be a possibility to save him." Lucifer said gesturing to the item in her hand, "But we'll need that rose."
"The rose?" Iris said, looking down at the flower, "The last I have left of him? His last gift."
The woman turned away from them, walking out to the balcony where snow had began to dwindle down from the white painted skies.
"The rose. It's important to you." Geralt said, "It's more than a memento."
"I remember so little... Yet when I think of my rose, I begin to recall what was. The world around me turns real. And I... My eyes open wide and I recognize things, remember who I am and who I was."
"I see." Lucifer said, "If the rose is taken, the world build from you, this painted world cease to exist. As will you."
"And what will happen then?" Iris said, "Shall I be free of the suffering, the sadness? Is it the void that awaits?"
Lucifer shook his head, "It will, but the void does not awaits you." he said kindly, "It might be scary to move on, but you'll be in a better place. I find it boring, but humans find peace there."
"I don't wish to suffer any longer..." Iris said shaking her head, "What you claimed earlier, about being able to save Olgierd. Can you promise this? Can you swear it?"
"In return for that rose, I shall do everything in my power to ensure that Olgierd will be saved." Lucifer, holding out his hand, "My word is my bond."
"I've come to a decision..." Iris said, looking at the flower, "I shall accept your deal."
Lucifer nodded, as Iris reached up to hand him the flower. When a an unamused chuckle echoed through the world.
"Thank you, Iris von Everec." Lucifer said, accepting the rose as the world started to fade away into white, "Say hello to Uriel for me."
"Good luck." Iris said, giving them a smile before she too was taken by a white light from above.
"You honestly believe this will stop me?" the cat spoke as it appeared on the disappearing railing, "You of all people should know, Lucifer. I cannot be stopped, only delayed. My arrival, as is the guaranteed destruction of all Arcmoani Networks, is inevitable."
"Oh, mum." Lucifer said, turning his back to Yahweh, "If we delay you often enough, with some luck, you will never return." as both he and Geralt returned to the real world.
And that was the chapter, hope you enjoyed.
I really want to do two prequels to this story, detailing Lucifer's time with Kassandra and Emily, but things don't always go as planned and I wanted to use that scene with Lucifer and Kassandra somewhere.
And the reason there wasn't a fight between Lucifer and Yahweh is the same reason writing a fight for Lucifer or Michael is a bit difficult (with them being only second to God in my canon). It would have been a complete stomp in Yahweh's favor.
Anyways many thanks to everyone who read, reviews, favorites or follows this, you beauties.
If you enjoy my work, I would be pleased if you leave a review and I hope you will join me next time for the last chapter of Hearts of Stone.