by Eric Vall
“They died?” I gulped.
“Perhaps,” Zilla continued. “Some of them went back to Hell or Earth Realm and then never returned to the Shadow World. We all assumed they were killed by their fathers or the Divine or some other party. As I’m sure you’ve found out, nobody is too fond of Nephilim.”
“You can say that again,” I agreed.
“We did witness the demise of some of them, though,” she explained. “Several of the Nephilim who sought out the Shadow World wanted to fulfill the prophecy, but they weren’t powerful enough to kill Tenebris.”
“Is that the man who took your throne?”
“Very good, King Ralston,” the Shadow Person mused. “Tenebris was one of my former generals, one of the most ruthless creatures to ever exist on any plane of existence.”
“Is that why the Exalted One and my father banished you here?” I asked. “Because of Tenebris?”
“Hardly,” Zilla answered with a slight chuckle. “We were all ruthless, King Ralston. We wanted to wipe out all of creation and start anew, with us as the primary inhabitants of the universe. Obviously, neither side wanted to hear that.”
My blood ran cold in my body, and I could feel the color draining from my face. This all sounded very familiar.
In fact, that sort of thing was exactly what Beelzebub, Uriel, Baphomet, and Gressil had wanted to do.
Was this still the right call? Was I going to be inadvertently handing my greatest enemy an army of powerful, ruthless beings who would follow along with his crusade?
“I know that look,” Zilla interjected, “and I can assure you, King Ralston, we are long past that. In fact, the Caliginis have actually made quite the home here in the Shadow World, a home we have no desire to vacate. All we want now is to be free of Tenebris’ cruel regime. And you, spawn of Lucifer, could finally be the one to do it. The Book of Bezaleel has foretold all.”
“First off, just call me ‘Jacob,’” I reminded her, “second, you really gotta elaborate on this ‘Book of Bezaleel,’ because I’ve never heard of it before.”
Zilla turned her head back toward the horizon and remained eerily silent, but I could tell she was mulling over her next words carefully.
“The Book of Bezaleel is our sacred text,” she explained, “it is the other reason the powers that be banished us to this world. We wished to add our book into the holy scripture on Earth Realm, but the Exalted One wouldn’t allow it. The Creator claimed it was too ‘radical’ to be given to humans, as did Lucifer. It was one of the few things in life they agreed on.”
“If you don’t mind me asking,” I questioned, “what’s so radical about your holy book?”
Zilla went silent once more, almost as if she didn’t want to trust me with the book’s secrets. Finally, though, the Shadow Person caved.
“The Book of Bezaleel is full of dark magic,” she explained, “magic more powerful than anything in the known universe. Magic that not even Lucifer and the Exalted One can control … It’s what makes up this entire Shadow World and gives you and I our dark Hellfire magic.”
“Well, shit,” I whistled, “I can see why they thought you were a threat. Is there any way I could see this book? I could use some upgrades in my spell casting abilities … ”
“We could all use some upgrades to our dark magic,” Eclipse added, “Look at what we’ve been able to do just in the time we’ve learned our new abilities?”
“That’s part of the prophecy,” the Shadow Person continued, “The savior and his followers will be endowed with the powers of the book once they have freed my people. But, Tenebris is currently in possession of the book. It’s what has kept him in power all these centuries. However, in the final chapter of the book, it speaks of the Lux Avertens, or the one who will restore light to our world by killing a cruel leader and returning our sacred book to its rightful owners. I believe that could be you, Jacob Ralston.”
“And what happens if I do this?” I demanded. “What happens if I really am the Lux Avertens, and I kill this guy and bring you back your book?”
“The Lux Avertens is our true leader,” Zilla retorted. “We would be forever in his debt, and we would serve him until the end of days. On top of that, it would give you all a massive power upgrade.”
I pursed my lips and fell silent as I considered her words.
This was a dangerous, yet tempting, offer.
On one hand, if we were able to pull this little side quest off, I would gain an entire faction of Shadow People into my army. Not to mention, if I didn’t have to worry about these creatures attacking my men, I could literally move them through the Shadow World at will.
Then there was the Book of Bezaleel. If that book was as powerful as Zilla was claiming it was, it would give me the ace up my sleeve to take out Beelzebub once and for all. It could also give me a leg up on Lucifer, too.
But, if I wanted to get this book and gain the trust of the Shadow People, I needed to kill the guy who currently had it. If Tenebris was strong enough to defeat not just one, but multiple Nephilim, he was going to be anything but a pushover. Luckily for me, I had something that none of the other Nephilim had.
I had my friends and a bag of tricks that would make even Houdini question his reality.
So, the choice was clear.
“Zilla,” I announced abruptly, “I’ll do it. My friends and I will kill Tenebris and bring you back your sacred text.”
Zilla’s head turned back to me, but all she did was stare in silence.
“Excellent,” she nodded after a long moment. “Then I shall take you to our safehouse in Umbra, and your journey can begin.”
“A safehouse?” Inpulsa scoffed, “I’m not a fan of hiding in the shadows.”
“It’s the only place in Umbra safe from Tenebris,” Zilla shrugged.
“Speaking of Umbra, how much longer is this voyage?” I asked. “Fighting that giant monster really takes it out of ya, and--”
“Umbra is wherever you want it to be,” Zilla interrupted. “Our ability to travel to the City of Shadows comes from our powers, not through passing over physical barriers.”
“Soooo, you could have taken us there this whole time?” I grumbled.
“Yes,” she admitted, “but I wanted to make sure you were truly ready for what lies ahead. Umbra is a very dangerous, very sacred place to us Caliginis. We would never allow anyone to enter unless we were sure they were committed to our cause.”
Zilla held up her hand, and all of the Shadow People behind her halted in response. Then she held out her two long, lanky arms, and black Hellfire began to spread across her nebulously-shaped palms.
It was then a morbid thought hit me.
“Zilla?” I questioned. “What would have happened if I hadn’t agreed to do this quest?”
“Don’t worry about it,” the Shadow Person retorted coldly. “You did agree, so why trouble yourself with ‘what ifs?’”
That told me everything I needed to know.
The Shadow People didn’t fuck around.
Slowly, Zilla rose up into the air on the power of her black Hellfire. Then she blasted her magic down into the ground, and it began to spread like wildfire across the distorted landscape until it suddenly rose up my feet.
I looked back and saw all of my friends and the remaining Shadow People become engulfed by the dark spell, and then they slowly began to dissolve into puffs of black smoke.
Once the fire had reached the top of my head, I felt my entire body become tingly, almost as if I had thousands of ants crawling all over me. Then I watched in horror as my hand began to fade away into a gas, followed by my arm and then my chest and then finally, the world went dark.
When I finally came to, we were all standing in front of a series of large, black metal gates. The barrier stretched out as far as the eye could see, all the way across the horizon, and it was enchanted with a black Hellfire spell.
“Holy shit, bro,” Todd shuddered, “now I know what Mario and King Koopa felt
like at the end of the Mario Bros. movie.”
Upon further inspection, I could see there were several large structures off in the distance, far beyond the perimeter of this fence. Just like the Shadow People themselves, everything seemed to be missing barriers, and it all meshed together into a single, nebulous blob.
“Jacob Ralston,” Zilla mused as she floated up in front of the group, “welcome to Umbra, the City of Shadows.”
Chapter 7
“Damn.” Todd whistled as we walked past a few houses on the outskirts of Umbra. “Who woulda thought the Shadow Realm would be so quaint? Like seriously, bro, this could be the backdrop of an HGTV show.”
“I’d like to see that one,” I mused, “what would it be called, House Hunters: Shadow World?”
“I was thinkin’ more like Love It or Banish It myself,” the imp snickered.
Honestly, Todd had a point. The City of Umbra looked nothing like the eternal Hellhole that everyone had made it out to be. The streets were paved with a mixture of brimstone and wooden planks that made up a walkway between the buildings. The houses and shops throughout the city were constructed out of a series of glowing black logs piled on top of each other to create a sort of “log cabin” effect, complete with thatched A-frame roofs made out of hay.
But there was one thing that kept it from being as quaint as Todd claimed.
Every single object in the entire fucking city was black and surrounded by a purple ectoplasmic glow.
To make matters even stranger, all of the physical objects appeared to be gaseous and only held together by the violet glow around them. Yet, somehow, the path underneath us still held firm as we made our way through the city.
“How is this possible?” Deja pondered aloud. “I’m, like, not an architect or anything like that, but shouldn’t all these buildings be evaporating into thin air? This entire city defies the laws of physics!”
“That’s the beauty of Umbra, my friend,” Zilla intoned. “Once the Caliginis realized we were stuck here for all eternity, our unbridled rage and hatred quickly turned into self-preservation. And once we could collectively experience an emotion like that--”
“You learned how to use purple Hellfire,” I finished the thought. “But how? I thought only demons could use that sort of magic?”
“Who says we aren’t demons?” Zilla retorted. “Just because Lucifer doesn’t control us, that doesn’t mean we aren’t originally his creations … ”
“Can you use other Hellfire magic?” Deja interjected. “Because for some reason, none of us can use our green spells down here.”
“That is because the Shadow World is a pocket dimension, separate from all space and time,” the Shadow Woman continued. “It’s a place where time stands completely still, and the laws of your universe mean nothing. For example, if you were to stay here for the next hundred years, you wouldn’t grow old or wither away or die.”
“Inception, bro,” Todd whispered loudly into my ear, “if you hear Non je ne Regrette Rien, make sure you run toward it ASAP.”
“It’s not like that,” Zilla sighed, “while you are in the Shadow World, time passes equally in your universe. If you stay here for a day and then return to Hell, you will find only a day has passed. Your green flames may be powered by emotions of disgust and jealousy, but they always involve the manipulation of time and space and, since you are in a world devoid of said time and space, they won’t work at all.”
“Geez,” Tris scoffed, “that was a reaaaaallly long way of saying our green Hellfire powers don’t work here. You lost me somewhere around ‘lost in space and time.’”
“I didn’t say that at all,” the Shadow Woman said and turned her head like an owl.
“Exactly!” Tris declared as she shrugged.
“Slothy doesn’t listen to anything past five sentences, so you really gotta know how to talk to her,” Todd elaborated. “It’s a fine art, but I’ll totally help you nail it down, Godzilla.”
“Why do you keep calling me that name?” the Shadow Person questioned.
“Just go with it,” I chuckled, “Trust me, that is far from the worst nickname he’s given someone before, and I promise you whatever he comes up with next will be worse.”
“I can vouch for that,” Eclipse noted, “I was originally called ‘Tits n’ Tats.’ So much cooler than ‘Lisbeth.’”
“And I was ‘Winonna,’” Vidia sighed, “that’s a much more normal name than ‘Elvira.’”
Todd just shook his head and raised his hand.
“The Toddster has spoken,” he giggled. “Your names shall forever be written in the bedrock that is my brain.”
We walked through the city for about a mile, and my team were completely flanked by the group of Shadow People as we traveled. Finally, Zilla halted in her path, looked around in both directions, and then glided nonchalantly down an alleyway to her right.
We followed her halfway down the backstreet until the Shadow Person stopped, held out her arm, and summoned Black Hellfire into her hand. Zilla muttered a few words in Latin as the purple light began to fade away from the wall in front of her. Finally, she motioned for us to follow, and then she floated directly through the barrier before her.
The rest of the Shadow People stood guard as my succubi, Todd, and I stepped through the black mist. It was bone-chillingly cold against my skin as it floated past my body, and the sensation sent a shiver all the way down my spine.
On the other side of the enchanted wall was a massive room the size of a small warehouse, complete with sprawling aisles of wooden shelves that housed books, weapons, and other trinkets. All the way to the far left of the room was a wide-open space where several Shadow People were currently sparring with each other.
“Welcome to the headquarters of the Shining Alliance,” Zilla announced, “the resistance group that will once again bring the light back to this godforsaken place.”
“Bring back the light?” Inpulsa chuckled. “Sounds like my kinda resistance.”
“Why would anyone want to eradicate the darkness?” Invidia added. “Umbra seems perfect as it is!”
Zilla made a strange noise that almost sounded like laughter, but then quickly returned to her usual stoic self.
“It’s a metaphor,” she clarified, “Tenebris is a blight on our realm, and the Shining Alliance exists to snuff him out. And now, with you at our side, King Ralston … we may have a shot.”
“Tell that to the other Nephilim who died in this place,” I reminded her, “I’m sure you said the exact same things to them.”
“We’ll certainly get it right one of these times, won’t we?” Zilla mused as she floated over toward the shelves.
“Totally,” Todd whistled, “I’m totally gonna trust our chances to a band of freedom fighters who have to stay hidden all the time but are still preparing a suicide mission that reveals themselves to their enemy. That definitely always works out in the end, especially for the faceless soldiers who fight alongside the hero. Spoiler alert, the hero is moi.”
“Is that so?” I raised my eyebrow at the imp curiously.
“Fine, fine,” he conceded, “all of us are the heroes. But it’s totally an X-Men situation, where I’m Wolverine and Jakey’s … Professor X, I guess? Nobody gives a shit about anyone other than those two.”
“Hey now,” Inpulsa chuckled, “Jubilee is my homegirl. Don’t be talking shit about her.”
“Who?” Deja questioned. “I’m only familiar with the bald guy and the hairy, handsome dude with the claws.”
“I rest my case.” Todd gave a firm nod.
“How did you guys know anything about Earth Realm’s pop culture?” Tris demanded as she crossed her arms over her chest. “The one time I decided to ditch out on my duties and go exploring, I was punished for a really, really long time.”
The Sister of Sloth reached down, unfastened the furry boot on her right leg, and then rolled down the top of the garment to reveal a circle of deep, white scar tissue that wrapped a
round the entire radius of her ankle.
Even though I’d seen the beautiful brunette naked a million times before, I’d never noticed the horrific mark before. My women’s imperfections were few and far between, and I’d much rather focus on their beauty than their blemishes.
“Is that from Azazel’s punishment?” I comforted Tris as I placed a hand on her shoulder.
Tris’ normally chipper expression turned into one of somberness, and she looked down at the ground.
“It is,” she sighed, “there’s a matching one on my other ankle, too. That oversized son of a bitch strung me up by my ankles over a pit of molten lava using razor wire. The heat was nearly unbearable, but if I tried to squirm away … ”
“The wire would cut you,” I finished her sentence and clenched my fists.
“That’s some fucked up Jigsaw shit,” Todd added with a shudder. “I’m glad Jakey Ned Starked that motherfucker, and now I really don’t feel bad for selling his femur bone to that dude out in Washington.”
Inpulsa turned her head to the side and frowned.
“Azazel really was an asshole, wasn’t he?” the yellow-haired beauty lamented. “My old master may have been cruel, but he never did anything like that. In fact, he was about as hands-off as you could get when it came to his succubi. As long as we were on duty when we needed to be, he didn’t give a fuck about what we did in our spare time.”
“Speak for yourself.” Deja shook her head. “You remember where I came from, right? Beelzebub would have disemboweled me and fed me my own insides if he ever knew I was hanging around on Earth Realm without permission.”
“How did you keep it a secret?” Ira prompted. “Doesn’t your old boss travel back and forth to Earth Realm all the time?”
“Used to,” I corrected, “he’s trapped in Hell now, remember?”
“Right,” the tan succubus continued with a hint of sarcasm in her voice, “and you have no idea how grateful all of us succubi of the Eighth Circle were for that one. Anyways … I literally owe my time manipulation powers for saving my skin so many times. I would sneak out for a meeting, hang out on Earth Realm for as long as I desired, and then manipulated time as I got back down to Hell and met with my pimp. That fuckwit Zander always thought I was gone for an hour or two, when in reality I’d be gone for, like, half the day.”
