Aurora smiled back at his response, and he could tell that she liked hearing it. He finally felt understood. Even though his fellow dark angels were very understanding, they could not peek into his soul as much as Aurora did. Virtually everything about her complemented him, and he was sure Aurora felt the same about him.
- “Do you mind me asking how you died?” Adelais asked all of a sudden there.
- “It was late at night. My carriage went off the road and plunged off a tall cliff. There is nothing much else to that.” Aurora disclosed to him.
- “Sorry to hear that.”
- “Don’t worry about it. The sooner I put that world behind me, the better. What about you?”
Adelais didn’t know how to explain it, but just as he started putting his words together, he saw three figures in the sky, coming from the direction of the river Lethe. He realised his friends were back and warned Aurora of it. The two of them left the tower and flew into the air to meet up with the others. Adelais was allayed to learn that all three of them made it back safely.
Chapter 15
Cast a Shadow
Ever since Alastor heard the news of an attack on one of his sector’s temples, he got greatly infuriated. Not only was it the fact that a sudden attack happened that enraged Alastor, but because that attack was led by Malakai, the one who was supposed to be working on the same side as him. The final stab was that Malakai actually dared to send a messenger to Alastor, telling him about it. It seemed to Alastor that Malakai was taunting him and the other demons in the Pandemonium.
He was now returning from the temple where the attack happened. To his colossal disappointment, the perpetrators were long gone by the time he arrived there. Since he wasn’t good at cleanup, he didn’t stay there long. Now that he was back next to the main citadel, a messenger flew up to him.
- “What is it now? You better deliver good news this time or else I’ll strangle you till your head explodes!” Alastor went off on the messenger.
The messenger, completely apathetic to his threat, began speaking:
- “Your master, Lucifer, summons you to his chamber.”
- “Yeah? Is this about the attack on our temple?” Alastor got curious.
- “He didn’t say.” The messenger replied.
- “Then get the hell out of my sight if you’ve got nothing else to say!” Alastor yelled and swung with his arm in order to knock the messenger aside.
The messenger managed to evade his arm swing and flew off momentarily. Alastor growled furiously and then headed for the location his master’s private chamber was at. The Main Keep was located directly in the centre of the Pandemonium. Once Alastor reached the final gate leading to it, he demanded the gate guards hurry up and open the gates for him. They did so obediently, allowing him to enter into the small enclosed area with the Main Keep. Once inside, he descended down a long dark staircase. The staircase went deep below the surface and ended in a small square chamber with a massive door. There were two enormous statues on either side of the door. Each statue represented a ferocious bipedal and extremely muscular demon. Those only came alive when an intruder entered the chamber. However, since the Pandemonium defences were exceptionally good, no-one in hundreds of years managed to get this close to Lucifer, and hence those statues were immobile for a very long time.
As soon as Alastor approached the doors, they opened by themselves inwards, allowing passage into the next chamber, which was enormous compared to the previous one. This chamber was dull grey and lacked any colour whatsoever. It had some patterns on the walls, but those were almost completely worn out. There were also several pillars on either side of the room. Since there were no obvious light sources in this room, the only light that ever got in it was from the previous room. As a result of that, only half of the room that was closer to the door had some light in it, and only when the doors opened. The second half of the room was incredibly dark at all times, and that’s where Lucifer himself was located.
Alastor stopped halfway into the room, without being able to see into the darker half of it. None of Lucifer’s followers were allowed to enter the darker side of the room and to see him. They were only allowed to converse with him by hearing his voice.
- “You called for me, master?” Alastor spoke out loud.
- “I’ve heard what happened to one of our temples. I’ve also heard who did it.” Lucifer’s hissing and very chilling voice came a moment later.
- “Yes, it was Malakai, the dark angel who said would work for us.” Alastor responded with a hint of annoyance in his voice, “I knew we shouldn’t have trusted him. Dark angels should never be trusted.”
- “It’s not a problem.” Lucifer suddenly interrupted Alastor, before he could begin ranting.
Alastor got slightly startled by his master’s reaction. He thought Lucifer would yell horrible things across the entire room, but instead he reacted calmly.
- “How can you be sure, master?” Alastor couldn’t understand.
- “Garridan has killed a lot of individuals already, and he is still effective even without a constant stream of profane energy.” Lucifer clarified.
- “Then should we forget about him?”
- “In time. Soon the dark angels will find and destroy him. Before that happens, he is still fulfilling his purpose.” Lucifer explained it in an extremely apathetic manner.
- “Then what do we do?” Alastor wanted to know the next step.
- “I think Malakai has a lot of potential. The fact he opposes the system so passionately is good enough for us. We need him in our army.” Lucifer proclaimed.
Alastor disliked Malakai and all the dark angels. However, he knew better than to dispute his master’s word. If his master said something, it was the law. Most demons ended up disputing Lucifer’s commands at some point and rebelling against him, and as a result they got obliterated and fed to the Void. Alastor knew his master was more powerful than him, and those with more power had authority over those who did not. For that reason alone, Alastor never stood against his master, and as a result he managed to last through the ages, acquiring centuries’ worth of experience in killing and becoming Lucifer’s best exterminator.
- “As you say.” Alastor said after a slight pause, “We will recruit him one way or the other.”
- “Then waste no time and go.”
At that instant Alastor turned around and began to leave the morbid room. The moment he stepped outside of it, the doors slammed loudly behind him. As he walked up the long staircase, he dragged his long spiky hammer behind him, hitting each step of the way.
He wasn’t sure how he and the other demons would recruit Malakai. He still wasn’t even sure of how loyal Malakai was to the forces of Pandemonium. His recent actions proved to be very untrustworthy. Alastor decided perhaps it was best if he discussed the matter with other high-ranking demons, in particular Eligos.
Once back up the stairs, Alastor exited the central keep and proceeded to the barracks complex. Eligos spent vast majority of his time there, as he was the leading general of the Pandemonium army. The barracks complex was a solid structure on the outside, but that was only half of it. The lower half of the complex was below the surface, in the dark, gloomy caves.
Alastor entered through one of the main entrances, and began heading through the main corridor. The place was battered and in a very poor condition. There were numerous chambers leading out of the main corridor where the demon-kind practiced fighting. Alastor very quickly cleared the first floor and descended down a level. The descent led straight into a large, spacious chamber, containing hundreds of sparring demons. Eligos was there too, overseeing the training. He was a tall, muscular, fully-armored demon, resembling a knight. He too was one of those who lasted a long time in Pandemonium, and he too used to be a human before joining the ranks of demons.
- “I believe everything is in order?” Alastor started the conversation without Eligos being aware, causing Eligos to turn around and face him.
- “Alastor. What exactly brings you here?” Eligos asked, partially being pleased to see him and partially revolted.
The demon kind often had certain feelings of revolt against one another. Even if they worked for the same system and for the same goal, they often competed and tried to prove each other their worth and might. There was no room for softness and mercy in Pandemonium, only strength and aggression.
- “I am here by our master’s orders.” Alastor replied whilst coming right up to face Eligos and trying to intimidate him with his large size, “We have a job to do.”
- “And what job would that be?” Eligos remained standing where he was, despite Alastor getting into his personal space.
- “We must find the little pest by the name of Malakai and turn him to our side. He’s been a liability, yet our master still wishes to exploit him.” Alastor gave an explanation.
Eligos seemed to have considered what Alastor said and gave it a brief moment to think about. Eventually he responded:
- “This Malakai still wishes to join us?”
- “Yes, I think he does. What’s your point?”
- “If he wishes to join us, he will do it himself.” Eligos elaborated, “We need not worry about it.”
- “I like that, but what if it doesn’t work? You better give our master a good excuse then.” Alastor barked at him.
- “It will work.” Eligos stated confidently.
Alastor didn’t know what else to say and therefore turned back around and decided to exit the barracks. He wasn’t pleased with Eligos’ suggestion to do nothing. He wanted to plunge head first into action, preferably to beat Malakai senseless all by himself and to taste his pain. However, eventually he realised that a more calm approach could indeed succeed. On that note he decided to question other high-ranking demon generals – Malphas, Buer, and Crocell. If they proposed the same, then he had no choice but to wait a while and to be prepared for Malakai’s return.
Chapter 16
Ensuing Step
Soon after Adelais and other Erebus angels left the Infernal Pit, Malakai began thinking of the next step. He needed to push Lord Beelzebub into a war with other sectors. More preferably he wanted to dethrone Beelzebub. If Beelzebub survived and joined Lucifer, it would only empower the Pandemonium sector. Malakai didn’t want that. Pandemonium was well-defended already. Adding to its defences was only going to impede his own progress later on when the time would come to overthrow Lucifer. Moreover, his master was going to find out about his actions sooner or later and might turn on him. Therefore he knew he had to turn on his master first. Tricking another sector into attacking him was the best option. An army against an army sounded good. It didn’t matter who attacked, as the guarantee of Beelzebub falling was great if Malakai, being one of the main defenders of Infernal Pit, was to abandon it at the time of attack. He knew a lot of the Infernal Pit’s defences depended on him, and he was going to use it to his advantage. He, however, was hoping to save as much of the remaining Infernal Pit army as possible. If he could spare enough units, then perhaps he could become the ruler of Infernal Pit himself – the first solid step to accomplishing his goals.
He finally decided that he would first trick Beelzebub into attacking Erebus, and as a result they would retaliate and destroy him, perhaps even with reinforcements from Helheim and other sectors.
Just as he headed down the tunnel, he came across Aurora. Once again he noticed how often he kept running into her. She began speaking first before he could mention anything.
- “Hey, how did the mission go? I didn’t get a chance to ask.”
- “It went fine.” Malakai replied coolly, “Garridan would be gone very soon.”
- “Did you hit a lot of resistance from the Pandemonium troops?” she was curious.
- “We managed to slip away before most of them arrived.” He answered her question.
- “All right. Hey, can I come to your next mission?” Aurora then asked all of a sudden, which was a little puzzling to Malakai.
- “Yes, of course. You would need to eventually.” he didn’t deny it.
Aurora thanked him and then left him alone. Malakai was finding her behaviour stranger and stranger, but that was natural during first few interims in the Underworld. The individual’s perception of the world and general attitude tended to change when they took on this job as one of the Underworld’s guardians.
Shaking it off in his mind, Malakai resumed heading down the tunnel to his master’s chamber. However, just as he reached the small chamber leading to Beelzebub’s room, Beelzebub was already flying out of the room.
- “Malakai, you’re back. Tell me on the progress.” He seemed to have noticed the return of his most trusted dark angel.
- “We’ve destroyed Garridan’s shrine. All is left is to defeat Garridan directly. I think the troops of Erebus are going to do that.” Malakai replied.
- “Good. I am pleased to hear that. Have you found out why Lucifer is using that individual in the External World?”
- “I am not entirely sure, but I think he might be building an army.” Malakai lied, considering he knew exactly that to be the case.
- “An army? I knew it! Whom is he attacking?” Beelzebub didn’t like the sound of that at all.
- “He might be attacking the Utopia again.” Malakai pretended to speculate, “I have some other news for you too, master.”
- “Let’s hear them.”
Here Beelzebub began ascending along the tunnel, and Malakai followed right after him. It was rare when sector leaders came out of their hideouts, but Beelzebub appeared to want to make sure that everything in the sector was in order, considering the recent mishaps they had with security. Malakai thought carefully and then began fabricating lies to his master:
- “When infiltrating the Pandemonium with dark angels from Erebus, I overheard them talking, and I think they are still suspicious of us. They think we’ve secretly joined Lucifer and are planning to attack them in full.”
- “I have to be honest, I’ve been giving this issue a lot of thought too, and what you say makes sense. They seem to be visiting us quite often too, most likely scanning our defences. I really do not like this and am feeling compelled to take some action.” Beelzebub admitted.
- “Precisely my thinking, master.” Malakai was delighted of Beelzebub’s suspicions.
- “I want to send them a sign to stay out, and if they refuse to listen, then I might have to send in everything we’ve got. They’ll be very sorry if it ever comes down to that.” Beelzebub let Malakai know of his plan.
Malakai was flaring up with joy inside. Things were going smoothly, and his master decided to act exactly as he wanted. Little did Beelzebub know that his most trusted guardian wasn’t going to defend the sector when the retaliation would come.
Azrael and his team arrived back in Erebus and got off the boat. As they began walking away from the dock, Azrael began planning the ensuing step for them to take. Now that Garridan was severely weakened, they could locate and attack him once again, without him being able to flee from the fight.
- “Adelais, Ethel, listen up. I am going to assemble a small team now, so that we can head to the External World again and stop Garridan once and for all.”
- “What about the souls in the Abode?” Adelais reminded him, “When are we going to save them?”
- “Adelais, you’ve been told already, we must prioritise our tasks. At the moment those souls are in no danger. Garridan, however, is killing innocent lives in the External World as we speak.” Azrael explained to him.
Ethel put her hand on Adelais’ shoulder to reassure him that everything would be all right as she knew how much he worried about those souls. Azrael could see his vexation too.
- “Here is the plan then. Let us meet up at the Northern dock in exactly one hour. I need to find Lazarus and report everything to Lord Hades, and also, if possible, I’ll ask Gideon to come with us as well.”
Both Ethel and Adela
is nodded in understanding, at which moment Azrael flew up into the air to find the others. He wasn’t comfortable knowing that Adelais was extremely worried for those souls in the Abode. However, it was important to him that more sensitive tasks were completed first. Impulsivity wasn’t going to help them in accomplishing those, but a plan that was well thought out.
As he flew, he concentrated and withdrew some attention from the outside world, allowing him to sense all the other dark angels in the sector. With that, he located Lazarus and Gideon and learnt of their current whereabouts. Within seconds he returned his attention back to the outside and headed for those locations.
Lazarus was patrolling around Hades’ palace. Once Azrael spotted him, he landed by his side. Lazarus asked about the mission and Azrael explained the situation to him and of their current objectives. With that in mind, Lazarus said he’d see him at the Northern dock and then continued patrolling. Azrael once again flew into the air and now headed for the location Gideon was at. Gideon and his team weren’t far away. They were preparing some troops in case of an attack on the sector. Once Azrael reached them, he addressed Gideon.
- “I’ve assembled my team and we’re ready to head back out into the External World. Would you lend a hand again in defeating Garridan?”
Decadence Page 10
