by Ramy Vance
Rasputina was curled up in a ball, whimpering softly.
Grok rubbed the lich’s back. "She fractured the bit of her soul that was left to break hell open. We've been slowly enlisting souls and demons into our army. It's been draining for her."
Abby looked concerned. "What's wrong with her?"
Grok didn't look up, still staring at Rasputina. "She broke her soul again. There's an even smaller fraction than before, and she's trying to hold onto it in this place. Staying sane in hell is hard. She's spending a lot of energy down here."
Anabelle sneered. "You almost sound like you care about her."
Grok helped Rasputina lean over and cradled the lich's head in her lap. "I do. She's going to go insane down here, but she won't leave."
"Why? Too much power to gain?"
Rasputina's eyes were vacant. "Because if I leave, I might become a monster again."
The lich's face went rigid and then softened quickly. She dried her tears and sat up, rubbing her face vigorously before clearing her throat. "There are moments when I'm lost. I don't want to be what I used to be. I'd rather be down here. Once we rid the universe of the Dark One, I'll be able to rest down here."
Grok nodded. "I'm going to stay with her. To keep her safe."
"By ruling hell?"
Grok shrugged, the glint of her teeth harkening back to her vicious nature. "I make no excuses for the person I am. I want hell to be ordered and safe for Rasputina. It's a win-win situation. I will keep Rasputina safe, and Myrddin won’t have to worry about an uprising in hell."
Anabelle rested her forehead in her palm. "Honestly, I don't believe this."
Terra was leaning back in her chair, smiling. "I don't know, I think it's kind of sweet. You evil assholes are all reformed and everything. It's because of us, isn’t it? You can admit it."
Grok tensed and looked away. "Shut up. You three are here on business, correct?"
"Yeah, Myrddin thought the Dark One might have been behind the influx of evil shit that's been leaking onto Earth since we opened it up to all the realms. Guess he was right. How have you guys been trying to fight the Dark One?"
Rasputina sat up straighter. She and Grok looked as if they were running on fumes. "There are other demon generals in hell. A good chunk of them serve the Dark One and have migrated to the Netherverse. We've been doing what we can to sway them to our side. If they choose to stay with the Dark One, we kill them. We've been trying to thin the herd, but the Dark One is also trying to grow his ranks. We've caught wind of what he's attempting to do."
Abby spoke for the first time. "He's got a plan? He's not just trying to regain power?"
Grok shook her head. "He's angry. Before, the conquest was an ideological one. He doesn't care about that anymore. There's only one thing on his mind, revenge. From what we've gathered from former generals, he's planning on wiping the Nine Realms out of existence."
Anabelle scoffed. "There's no way he has that much power. To completely destroy all Nine Realms?"
Rasputina reached out, and a book flew over to her from the bookcase. "There are two ancient prophesies in hell, and they work in tandem with each other. One tells of a Dark One with a pale child who will unseat hell and drag the Nine Realms into it. It's obviously the Dark One."
Anabelle's curiosity was piqued. "And the second one?"
Rasputina looked up from the book. "It speaks of angels from the Nine Realms. They 'close all the doors and seal all the windows. The candles will be snuffed by drowning in air.' I think it's talking about you three."
Anabelle tossed her arms up as she stood. "What does that even mean? It doesn't make sense. More air would just feed a fire. Is it saying that we're going to help the Dark One?"
Abby raised her hand, cutting Anabelle off. "That's not true. A fire needs oxygen, yes, but if you overload it, like when you blow at a candle, it goes out. Maybe it means we need to give the Dark One too much of what he wants, or at least what he thinks he wants."
Terra sank down into her chair. "None of this makes any sense to me."
Abby stood and walked over to Rasputina. "Are there more prophecies? Maybe we could make sense out of it if we had more sources."
Rasputina nodded slowly. "There are, but it's a lot to read."
"I'll help. We need to figure this out soon. We've already sent what you said to Creon and Cire. Hopefully, they can help make sense out of this."
Rasputina stood, her legs shaking as she moved. "Let me show you."
Anabelle watched Abby and Rasputina go. She couldn't believe how ready Abby was to work with Grok and Rasputina again.
Terra's eyes flittered from Grok to Anabelle. "I'm assuming you two have some talking to do. I'll excuse myself." She got up. "You got an armory around here?"
Grok pointed at the hall on the left. "Knock yourself out."
Anabelle and Grok sat there, staring at each other. Finally, Anabelle spoke. "So, you suddenly have a heart now?"
"I've always had a heart. Its concerns simply aren't anyone's but mine."
"And you're going to spend eternity down here. With her?"
Grok looked at Rasputina, who was showing Abby her arcane tomes. "She gave a lot to keep me safe in the Netherverse. It is the least I can do to repay my debt. You would do the same for either of them."
Anabelle couldn't disagree.
Anabelle and Terra killed time while Abby went over the tomes with Rasputina. The elf was surprised she didn't seem to have a problem working closely with someone who had nearly removed her intestines. Apparently, Abby's professionalism far exceeded hers.
Her professionalism was being tested by being with Grok. The elf was determined to figure out how long she could sit across from her nemesis and not say a word.
Naturally, it was Terra who broke first. "So, what about these generals you've been gathering?"
Grok stopped picking her nails and looked up. "Interested in starting an army?"
"Well, I kinda have one already, but you could say I'm still interested."
"So, you and the shaman have managed to keep the twelve tribes together? That's more than I would have expected. That in itself is a victory."
Terra tried not to look too proud of herself. "I mean, we do have to put down a small insurrection every couple of weeks, but they've been slowing down recently."
Grok laughed as she leaned forward. "Only makes sense. What's the fun of being an orc if you can't start a rebellion every so often?"
It wasn't long before Grok and Terra were talking heatedly, comparing the strength of each other's armor. After an hour or two, Anabelle would have assumed they were friends.
Guess time heals all wounds, Anabelle thought.
Her comm pinged. It was Creon. "What's up?"
"We’ve got a problem. A really big problem."
Chapter Twenty
Creon and Cire watched a holoscreen with an image of what looked like the sun projected on it. Their eyes were glued to the holo when Roy and Myrddin walked into the room.
Roy glanced at the screen, obviously unimpressed. "This is what you called us in here for?"
Cire nodded, not taking his eyes off the holoscreen. "When I saw it, I also did not think it was anything of merit. Your sun is hardly even hot, not compared to the orcs’ sun, but this is abnormal."
Myrddin walked to the holoscreen to take a better look at it. "What exactly are we looking at, Creon?"
Creon swiped down on the screen, but nothing changed. He typed in a couple of commands. Still nothing. "This isn't the sun, but some other star, I think. Truth is, I don’t know what it is," Creon said. "It appeared on the screen, and I have not been able to remove it, analyze it, or view anything else on this or any other terminal.”
Roy leaned closer. “What’s it doing?”
“So far, nothing. It's just been sitting here like it wants us to watch it."
Myrddin stroked his beard. "Hm. That is interesting."
"I think it's trying to communicate."
Roy let out an exasperated sigh as he found a chair to sit in. "You're saying this sun is trying to talk to us? That's rich."
Creon spun around in his chair. "We've both seen weirder things. A celestial body taking over my computer is one of the lower things on the list."
Myrddin stood behind Creon, watching the holoscreen. "There are always strange things to behold. Let's hope this is one that brings good tidings."
Abby and Rasputina sat on the floor together, poring over books. She wasn't sure how long she'd been reading, but it didn't matter. She felt like a kid. That was the last time she could remember being this overwhelmed with things to read.
Rasputina did not disappoint with content either. The lich gave Abby book after book. At first, she seemed wary of what Abby could understand, but she was warming up to sharing the information.
Luckily, Martin was boosting Abby's cognitive abilities. Because of that, she was able to read at an insane rate and retain all of it. There was a specific folder in her mind for arcane knowledge now, as if it were a computer.
She felt a pang of insecurity, then remembered her fight with her doppelganger. She wasn't her nanobots or Martin. She was the person who created those two things to augment herself. She was a genius. It was a big difference.
Abby looked up from her book to watch the lich, who was lying on the ground, staring at the ceiling and muttering to herself.
Whatever losing part of her soul had entailed, the lich seemed much different from the last time Abby had seen her a year ago. Even if the lich's sanity hadn't improved—and it seemed like it had gotten worse—she didn't radiate malice or violence anymore.
Abby wouldn't have said it to Terra or Anabelle, but she thought Rasputina was pleasant to be around, if slightly unsettling. She'd almost forgotten that the lich had tried to disembowel her. Now that Abby had thought of it, she was determined not to dwell on it.
Rasputina looked at Abby. "When did you become interested in magic?"
Abby closed her book. She wasn't finding anything useful for the current situation, and she knew she could go on reading indefinitely. "Right before we got here. Cire was teaching us sigil magic. We hadn't really thought about it before. All anyone ever told us was that humans couldn't use magic."
Rasputina nodded slowly as she returned her attention to the ceiling. "Yes, that is the unfortunate state of humanity. But the shaman was right. There are ways around it, especially when there are so few of you left."
"What are you talking about?"
"How many Abbys did you watch die?"
The girl’s heart wrenched. She hadn't thought about that in forever and had done everything in her power to keep from letting her mind drift to it.
During the battle with the Dark One, Abby had traveled between different alternate realities. She'd gone to absorb her counterparts’ power, which had involved watching nearly all of them die in battles with Tesla.
A tear ran down the lich's face. "I did the same thing. Not as humanely as you. As variations of yourself dwindle, it increases your likelihood of everything. I wouldn't be surprised if you were much more magical than you give yourself credit for."
Abby bit her lip, not knowing what to say.
Rasputina sat up. Her eyes were softer than Abby had ever seen them before. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry. No one should ever watch themselves die. Not even once."
The lich summoned a book from the wall. "You should stick with the sigil work, and once you're comfortable with it, you should teach Terra as well. You'd both do well at it."
Abby took the book and opened it. "Thank you."
"Are you two done over there?" Anabelle shouted. "Being this bored is hell."
Abby grabbed a few books and walked over to Annabelle, Grok, and Terra. She dumped the books on the table in the middle of the three. "We've got a few ideas. As far as we can deduce, the Dark One needs to be drawing power from something if he's in as weak a state as Grok and Rasputina think he is. There's a reason he's stayed in the Netherverse instead of trying to flee."
Terra picked her nails with her axe blade. "That's easy. The Netherverse is the nexus for all nine of the realms. It's the easiest way to travel between them, so it probably gives him direct access to the places he's planning on going."
Anabelle and Abby stared at Terra, dumbstruck.
Terra shrugged. "What? Do you guys think I don't pay attention to what's going on?"
Abby laughed and shook her head. "You never seem like you care."
"Just because I don't coat all of my observations in five degrees of nerd, it doesn't mean I don't care. Besides, I look cool when I look like I don't care. But I'm assuming you have another reason you think the Dark One is still hiding out in the Netherverse."
Abby nodded as she opened one of her books. "It says here necromancers are capable of restoring their power through the use of souls. Some consume said souls, and others use them as batteries. Either way, that's how they get their energy. I wouldn't put it past the Dark One to have some kind of necromantic power."
Rasputina absentmindedly scratched the hole in her thigh. "He does. I know that for a fact. If there's a way he's keeping himself going, it's necromancy."
Anabelle looked at the book Abby was holding. "And? What options does that give us?"
Abby leaned over the table, her lips hovering close to the flame of the candle in front of her. "Like the prophecy says, we blow it out. Hell is full of souls. Not only souls but demons and fallen angels. We let them loose in the Netherverse and overload him."
"Or just turbocharge him."
Rasputina's glinted green. "Grok and I can control them. Many are our soldiers, and I am well enough versed in necromancy to keep their energies in check."
Anabelle jumped to her feet. "Great! Now, all we need to do is flood the Netherverse with souls and go end this once and for all."
All of the DGAs’ comms pinged. "Ugh, this better be important."
Creon was on the line. "You know that problem I told you I'd get back to you about?"
"Yeah," Anabelle answered.
"It just got worse."
Creon, Cire, Myrddin, and Roy watched the holoscreen of the sun as solar flares ripped from its surface, stretching out through the blackness of space.
Blood tickled from their nostrils as the walls of the room vibrated, a low hum ringing in their skulls.
"Yeah," Creon said into his comm, "it's definitely worse."
A voice rumbled through the minds of everyone in the room.
“I will speak to the Dark One," it roared.
The solar flares on the holoscreen grew even wilder, stretching farther out as if they were hands grasping in the darkness.
Creon touched his finger to the blood trickling from his nose. "It's gotten so much worse."
You Only Undie Twice
Dark Gate Angels Book Ten
Chapter One
The gates of hell shook, rocking Grok's throne room and cracking the walls down to the ground.
Anabelle, who was looking at her holoscreen, had to fight to keep from falling over. "What was that?"
Grok walked to the wall and ran her hand over it as if searching for whatever meaning could be found within its construct. From the expression on her face, she found no answers.
Creon's voice interrupted the surprised silence in the chamber. "Myrddin wants you guys back now. Something's happening. All hands on deck."
Terra checked her comm as well. "Sounds serious. Do you think it has anything to do with what we just felt?"
Abby nodded. "It must. I mean, a quake just shook hell. That hasn't happened in thousands of years."
Anabelle gave Abby a suspicious glance. "How do you know that?"
"Some of those books that Rasputina has are history books. Turns out hell’s history has been meticulously recorded."
Anabelle stared at the ceiling of the throne room. "Is there an easy way to get out of here?"
Abby pulled a piece of chalk from her pouch a
nd crouched, then started drawing elaborate sigils in the shape of a circle. When she was done, the sigils flashed bright red and a portal opened in the middle of the throne room. "This'll take you back to the restricted area and the portal we first took to get down here. We're going to stay with Grok and Rasputina. We have a feeling we're going to have to keep researching. Whatever is going on up there, it gives us a bad feeling."
Anabelle nodded as Terra came around the portal. "All right. Keep in contact. We'll let you know what we find out up there." She turned to Grok and Rasputina. "Guess we'll be in contact with you too."
The elf and the human walked through the portal that Abby had opened, vanishing instantly.
The transportation felt as if Anabelle had been hooked by her belly button. The ground rushed out from her, making her queasy enough to vomit before the feeling was suddenly gone and she was standing in the restricted area of the library with Terra. "Ugh. That's even worse than the Hadron Collider."
Terra, who was clutching her stomach, nodded somberly. "Travel between realms really needs to get more enjoyable. Otherwise, the tourism industry to hell will never pick up."
Anabelle chuckled. "Let's go figure out what's going on. Creon will probably be in his lab."
Anabelle and Terra left the library behind and made their way through the labyrinthine HQ, eventually descending into the science department. They walked through the glass hallways until they found Creon's lab.
Cire, Roy, and Myrddin were crowded around the gnome’s holoscreen. They all seemed to be in a particularly bad mood.
Myrddin looked up as Terra and Anabelle walked into the room. "That hardly took any time. Glad to see you made it out of hell in one piece."
Anabelle walked up to the holoscreen to get a better look at what everyone was looking at. "What did you need us here for?"
