- “Be careful. You don’t know what he will have defending his throne room. I wouldn’t be so hasty if I were you, Azrael.” Hades criticised his suggestion, but in spite of that, it seemed that to him it was better than both inaction and a full out attack.
- “If Malakai betrayed him, then surely Lord Beelzebub’s defences are severely weakened.” Ethel called to attention suddenly, “He might be having legions of bugs in his sector, but he would be lacking on his personal bodyguards.”
Hades took on board what Ethel said and began thinking it through. Azrael knew that their leader was good at planning scenarios out in his head, and was now most likely trying to play out this one. Azrael kept doing that as well and still couldn’t see any obvious disadvantages. He learnt from Hades that being hasty was a bad idea, and that most times the less obvious the flaw was, the more dangerous it was.
- “I have to say, I don’t see why we shouldn’t try it.” Hades finally said, “Yet I still urge you not to take any unnecessary risks. If you four are killed, it will be a scathing blow to the defences of Erebus. You’re my best team of dark angels. Keep that in mind.”
- “Great. So when would be best to go there?” Adelais wondered, “Now or should we wait a little bit for the dust to settle?”
- “We should go right now.” Azrael turned to Adelais, and then to Hades for reassurance, “The earlier we strike, the less time Lord Beelzebub will have to predict our intentions.”
- “I agree.” Hades liked the sound of that, “Though we might also want to consider how you’ll get there. The waters around the Infernal Pit might be unsafe at this time.”
- “And flying would be too great a distance.” Ethel pointed out.
- “Maybe we should take Cocytus instead of Lethe to get us to the Infernal Pit.” Adelais suggested a different river route.
- “No, definitely a bad idea.” Hades dismissed it straight away, “Cocytus is by a long shot the most dangerous river to travel by. The Pandemonium forces have innumerable amount of traps of various kinds along it. As a result, they are the only ones who use it.”
- “Then we are pretty much stuck.” Adelais didn’t seem to know of any other way.
- “Perhaps the safest option would be for the lot of you to take a boat to the Den of Retribution. That sector is still on our side. From there you should fly to the Infernal Pit. It’s not exactly close, but it’s much closer than flying from here.” Hades recommended to them.
Each of the dark angels thought about the idea and seemed to like the sound of that. Azrael began putting together everything they discussed and was hoping this plan would work. Once he was confident in it, he told Hades that they were going to leave right away. Ethel, Lazarus, and Adelais were prepared as well, at which stage all four of them flew into the air and departed towards the Southern dock.
Malakai and Aurora were nervously waiting in a filthy chamber just beyond the first Western gate in the Pandemonium. The guards weren’t sure if to let them in further or not and hence sent a messenger to Alastor about it. Malakai and Aurora had waited for quite long now and were getting impatient.
Finally one of the demonic guards entered the chamber and approached them. He was just an ordinary infantry trooper.
- “Alastor will see you now.” He said after a brief pause.
- “It’s about damn time.” Malakai cursed irritably.
He and Aurora got up and followed the soldier out, who led them towards the second gate. The guards on duty quickly unlocked the gate and began opening it. When they did, the guide soldier took Malakai and Aurora past it. Malakai could now see overwhelmingly high towers and sturdy colossal citadels, as well as flaming foundries, spacious courtyards, where the demon kind practiced fighting, and of course prisons of various types.
This first section looked rather huge, but it was nothing compared to the next area. Once the guard took them both past the third gate, that’s when they truly saw the essence of the Pandemonium – big mountainous areas which stretched over into the distance, scorching lava streams, a huge golden burning lake of brimstone, and in between all of those were the solid structures, similar to those they’ve already seen.
Alastor was waiting for them next to a wide cave mouth, not far from the third gate. Eligos stood right next to him, as well as one other high-ranked demon - Malphas. Malphas was an average-sized humanoid demon, who had darkened skin, similar to dark angels, big black wings, and he wore a black helmet, resembling the head of a crow. He was in charge of the defences in Pandemonium, as he could come up with the best designs for strongholds of various kinds. Due to that, he rarely came out of his tower, but after hearing of recent events he wanted to meet Malakai.
- “Quite an exquisite place you’ve got here.” Malakai remarked the moment he came up to Alastor and the others.
- “You’ve decided to finally join us.” Alastor spoke in his deep, low-pitched voice, “You’re rather slow.”
- “I’ve joined you awhile ago.” Malakai corrected him, “I just needed to stir up some conflict before I could officially leave Beelzebub. You requested it yourself.”
- “Ah, so you haven’t forgotten about it? Maybe I underestimated you.” Alastor came to realise, “And who is this?”
Alastor pointed at Aurora here with his hammer. Aurora instinctively took a step back from fear.
- “Stand down. She is from my former troop. She is still new in the Underworld and promised to stand by me on the matter.” Malakai explained reassuringly.
- “Fresh blood!” Alastor exclaimed with a mad excitement, “Superb!”
- “Does Beelzebub now know of your betrayal?” Eligos then asked just to be sure.
- “I haven’t told him, but I think by now he either noticed it or someone informed him of it.” Malakai admitted honestly, trying not to lose his confidence.
- “It’s irrelevant anyway.” Alastor then said, “I sent him a messenger, requesting to join us against Erebus and other allies of the Utopia. Foolishly he declined the offer.”
- “Then he is our enemy.” Malakai stated without a hint of remorse.
- “Exactly!” Alastor spoke in a booming voice, “This means we will have to kill him… or more accurately – you will have to kill him.”
Alastor pointed at Malakai when he said that last part. Malakai was rather surprised, as he thought he already proved his loyalty to the Pandemonium forces. It seemed they still wanted to test him some more.
- “You do realise Beelzebub is a deity and I am just a dark angel? Besides that, he will also be well-protected. How do you expect me to kill him?” Malakai protested.
- “We’ve taken that into account.” Malphas responded here, “Behind us is a cave. All you have to do is enter it and keep going inside. The profane energy in it will make you stronger. However, beware – it will slowly start consuming the goodness that you’ve still got left in you.”
- “Why would he need to be aware of that?” Alastor angrily turned to his fellow demon here, “He doesn’t need that goodness anyway. I’d say expel it all in one go!”
- “He has to take it slow.” Malphas argued back, “If he doesn’t, his mind and body will likely reject this power and all will be for waste.”
- “I understand.” Malakai listened to his advice, “How far do I go inside?”
- “You will know when to stop. Your subconscious will tell you that.” Eligos replied here.
Alastor shook his head here from disappointment, but didn’t dispute the suggestions from Eligos and Malphas any further. Malakai didn’t say anything else and just began walking towards the cave. Aurora grabbed him by the hand, trying to stop him, but he turned to her gently and said:
- “Just stay here. I will be back shortly.”
Aurora let go off him, and he turned back to the cave and resumed heading towards it. Alastor, Eligos, and Malphas moved aside and let him enter it. Without fear, Malakai entered the cave and headed into the tunnel. It was pitch black inside, but his eyes a
djusted to the darkness very quickly. At first he couldn’t feel much, but after about a minute he finally felt it. It was as if he walked into a wall of hatred, and a net of pain and anger encased him from all sides. All the bitter memories from his human life came rushing back to his head, enraging him and filling him with power.
Aurora watched Malakai enter the cave and felt more nervous than she already was. She began doubting whether she had made the right choice by coming to this place with him. She wondered that maybe she should’ve done what Dugan and Ragnar did and stayed in the Infernal Pit. She kept questioning - if this cave had the power to corrupt, would Malakai change for the worse? Would he force her to do the same?
She could sense trouble and that she stumbled onto a trap. She realised that the good she always wanted to do, she would not get a chance to do again, and that instead she would be filled with hate.
As she contemplated on that, she looked at the demon generals, all of which were gazing back at her with intimidation in their eyes. Out of revulsion she turned away from them and looked instead at the scorching streams of lava running down from a volcano nearby. As she did that, she took a few steps away from the demons and stopped when she felt she was slightly safer.
Whilst continuing to look at the scenery of the place, she began thinking about Adelais. Thinking about him still gave her hope, but she was not sure what he would think after finding out that she followed Malakai and joined the Pandemonium.
- “Adelais, I miss you so much. When will I see you again?” she whispered quietly to herself.
Chapter 24
The Nest
Azrael and his squad, consisting of Adelais, Lazarus, and Ethel, were now in flight from Den of Retribution, heading towards Infernal Pit as they planned. They could see the Infernal Pit at the distance fairly well. It looked dormant on the outside, but the dark angels of Erebus knew very well that on the inside it was anything but that. As they got closer, they lowered their altitude, so that they wouldn’t be spotted by the guards of the sector. When they got to the sector itself, they were flying just above the surface of the river, and soon landed onto the solid ground. Azrael and Lazarus went ahead first and scanned the area to see if there were any guards or other creatures in the vicinity. Once it was clear, they returned to Ethel and Adelais.
- “We might be able to fly to the main cave complex, but we must fly virtually on ground level and not to draw any attention to ourselves.” Azrael said to everyone with a very serious tone of voice.
Adelais, along with two of his teammates acknowledged what their commander said and decided to act accordingly. Azrael hovered into the air first and headed forward in that fashion. The others did exactly the same and kept on his trail. Whilst flying, they kept their eyes out on everything around them, making sure not a single guard would see them. Surprisingly there were no guards on the posts at all. After crossing a fair distance, Azrael came to a halt and signalled the others to stop too. They came closer to him to see why he stopped.
- “Look over there.” He told them whilst pointing ahead past a couple of structures.
What they saw was a large pack of creatures, mostly arachnids and centipedes. It looked as though they were being led by several guards somewhere, either to prepare to attack someone again or perhaps to be placed on defence of the sector.
Due to that, Azrael and his team had to go around, so that they could avoid coming across those monstrosities. It didn’t give them trouble, but it took slightly longer than they hoped, and there was one area they had to cross that was too open, meaning they had to take extra care not to be seen. Eventually they made their way through a small broken section in a wall and headed further into the heart of the sector.
- “Do you know how we’re going to get inside the main cave complex?” Adelais asked his commander as they made another stop to scan the area.
- “Yes, we’ll take the Northern entrance, as opposed to the Southern one we used the last two times we came here.” Azrael told him.
- “Why is that?”
- “Because it’s much closer. What I am predicting is that both entrances will be guarded. However, it probably shouldn’t matter if we get spotted once inside there. We’ll be able to make our way to Lord Beelzebub fairly fast.”
Adelais understood what Azrael meant and therefore didn’t ask any more questions. Azrael looked out once again, and after establishing that it was clear, signalled for his team to follow him.
Once again, after travelling some distance, the four angels saw a huge swarm of creatures not too far away. This one consisted mostly of flies, which chaotically moved about in the massive pack. Just like the previous time, the angels went around, trying as best to avoid any Infernal Pit troops as they possibly could.
Finally the entrance into the main cave complex was in sight. It looked unguarded, which was rather suspicious. Just before going inside it, Azrael carefully examined the area around the entrance, making sure there was nobody watching them. He then came out of cover and called the others, warning them to be careful. Slowly the four of them flew closer to the entrance, and without facing any ambush attacks they entered the complex.
Once inside, they landed onto the ground and carried going on foot. The first tunnel was empty and quiet, but the chamber it led to contained three guards. Adelais and Lazarus reacted quickly and dashed towards them before those realised of the intruders. Within seconds the three guards were defeated silently, and the angels of Erebus could continue further.
The moment they stepped into the next tunnel, they were faced with a fork in it. Azrael said it didn’t matter which way they took, as the tunnels were symmetrical and led to the same location anyway. Because it didn’t matter, they decided to check both ways for danger. Adelais checked out the right, whilst Ethel checked out the left. Both ways were clear, so the angels chose one at random.
Very soon they came to a part with numerous small chambers branching out to the side. Most were empty, as it appeared, but one of them contained a dark angel who wasn’t aware of anything. When he saw the Erebus dark angels, he froze in place for a brief second. Realising these were outsiders, he madly charged at them in a hope to kill at least one of them. However, his reckless swings were dodged with ease, and he met his end when Azrael struck him down with an axe.
Feeling great remorse for the angel, Azrael and his team continued down the tunnel, until it brought them into a very large chamber. Before entering it, Lazarus sensed that there was a great number of gigantic flies in that chamber, as well as two reptilian guards. Adelais and the others had no choice but to enter it, however, as that was the only way to continue descending further down the cave complex. Adelais could nervously anticipate the kind of battle that would occur inside it. Although he was slightly worried, he was also highly prepared and battle ready.
The moment the four of them went into the chamber, the two guards saw them and ordered the flies to attack immediately.
- “Here they come. Stick together, team.” Azrael instructed the others and got into a battle position.
Adelais heeded Azrael’s words and waited till the flies got nearer. As soon as those got close enough, all four Erebus angels unleashed their deadly attacks upon the swarm, hoping to strike as many flies around them as possible.
At one stage one of the guards ran to attack Ethel. Reacting quickly, she created a shield in front of herself the moment the guard took a swing at her. The shield stopped him without difficulty, allowing Ethel to kill two more flies before redirecting her attention back at him. The guard struck the energy shield several times and eventually smashed it. By then Ethel was ready. As soon as he took a swing at her, she darted closer to him and stabbed her blade in his torso, momentarily bringing an end to him.
The other guard attacked Adelais. It was a bit late when Adelais noticed him among the swarm of flies, what meant that the guard managed to get too close to him. As the guard swung at him, Adelais hastily placed his sword on the way. The guard’s hit
was stopped, but as Adelais wasn’t prepared, he was pushed back a few steps. The guard used that to his advantage and produced the second swing, this one overhead. Adelais regained his balanced quickly and sidestepped just as the enemy swung at him. After avoiding that, Adelais easily took down the guard from the side with a powerful slash of his blade.
There were still a few more flies remaining in the room. The four dark angels patiently stood their ground and repelled every single fly that attacked them. Within moments the room was free off the buzzing, and every single fly was on the ground. That was a sign that Azrael and his team could continue further.
The next tunnel was long, and the only turns it had were into side rooms. Directly ahead, Adelais and his comrades could see several figures. They instantly prepared for another fight and continued on heading forward with full confidence.
- “It’s going to be hard fighting inside a corridor.” Adelais broke the silence as the four of them were walking.
- “The corridor is still wide enough for all four of us to stand side-by-side.” Azrael pointed out in response to Adelais’ comment, “If anything, it will work in our favour, because they won’t be able to outflank us.”
- “Good point.” Adelais realised after Azrael mentioned it.
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