Uldyssian felt an incredible coldness surround him, but his mere desire for it to be gone quickly ended the problem. The priests faltered in their chanting, only their master seemingly unperturbed by their failure. He glanced with disdain at the nearest pair, who nervously took up the spellwork once more and were quickly joined by their brethren.
“Be silent,” an impatient Uldyssian murmured.
The chanting ceased, although the priests continued for a few second more to open and close their mouths, it gradually dawning on them that their voices had been stripped away.
A curious chuckle momentarily escaped the senior priest. He drew from his robes a small, azure stone. This was apparently a signal for his underlings to do the same.
The last time Uldyssian had faced someone wielding such stones, it had been Malic and he had revealed those gems to be some manner by which to summon demons to his will. During that struggle, Lilith had secretly taken a hand, eliminating immediately what possibly would have been the most deadly and adding her strength to what he had believed strictly his own when he had battled the rest. While Uldyssian trusted more in his own power now, he saw no reason to invite threat when it could be removed quickly enough.
He made a fist.
One of the lesser priests screamed as the gem he held flared to fiery life. To their credit, the rest reacted instantly, flinging the stones from their palms. As it was, three others still suffered burns to some degree, but nothing as terrible as the first. He fell to his knees, sobbing and clutching the blackened cinder that had been his hand.
The senior priest chortled, again an odd reaction. He had not been affected in the least, having tossed away his gem even before Uldyssian had finished the fist.
Frowning, Uldyssian stared at him…stared at what stood there beyond mortal vision.
And then he knew…
The elder priest seemed to recognize this in turn. “I think they are not needed any more,” the bald man announced. He looked to his lackeys. “You may die.”
They stared at him, entirely baffled. Uldyssian felt some sympathy for them…but not much. They had willingly taken the blood and souls of the living for their dark masters.
The priests collapsed as one. They did not scream, having no time to draw another breath. There was no mark on their bodies, save the earlier burns.
For some reason, Uldyssian immediately surveyed the shadows where the spider demon had hidden. He knew instinctively that the shadows were now empty, their unsettling inhabitant having evidently fled elsewhere during the confrontation with the robed figures.
“Dear Astrogha is most obedient,” the senior priest said in an oddly feminine voice. “When his Primus commands him to leave instantly, he does so without question.”
“And does he realize that his Primus is no longer Lucion, but Lucion’s sister?” Uldyssian stared into the other’s eyes. “Does he, Lilith?”
She leered at him in a manner that would have likely been very seductive if not for the fact that her body was that of a sweating, corpulent man. “Fear makes many blind, as does love, my love…”
“There’s no love between us, Lilith. Only lies and hate.”
The priest pouted. “Oh, my dear Uldyssian, is it because of this poor dress I wear? That can be remedied. We are alone and the fool’s served his purpose…”
Wild, green flames erupted around the bulky figure. Uldyssian raised an arm to shield his eyes from the intense brightness that accompanied the unnatural fire. As his gaze adjusted, he watched the priest’s garments and hair quickly curl and turn to ash. The man’s abundant flesh blackened and baked. Fiery gobbets dropped from him to the floor, revealing sinew, muscle, and bone.
The face burned away, in its place a mocking skull still briefly retaining the eyeballs. However, those shriveled into the sockets even as the horrific figure stepped toward the human.
“I want to look my best for you, after all,” the burning skeleton cooed. By now, the flames had eaten away at everything but bone and even that was quickly vanishing. Yet, underneath the crumbling bone, Uldyssian caught flashes of emerald green cloth and ivory skin. The legs broke away, from them blossoming an elegant skirt beneath which glimpses of feminine feet became more and more obvious. The rib cage burst forward, in its place the bodice of what was a familiar, elegant gown that also revealed a very feminine form.
The back and the top of the dark skull broke as rich, golden hair flung out, then cascaded down. Last to vanish of the unfortunate priest was the burnt face. The jawbone dropped, then the rest.
Arms outstretched, she stood before him in all her glory. Despite what he had claimed, Uldyssian felt his heart wrench. Unbidden from his lips came the name by which he had best known this wondrous figure. “Lylia.”
She smiled at him in what he recalled the exact same manner the first time their eyes had met. “Dear, sweet Uldyssian!” The beautiful woman reached forth her slim, perfect hands. “Come, take me in your strong arms…”
His body flinched forward before the reality struck him. The son of Diomedes swore, which amused his companion.
“How colorful a turn of phrase! That’s a side you should nurture, dear Uldyssian! It adds character!”
He clenched his fists so tight the knuckles whitened. “No more taunts, Lilith! No more charades! That face isn’t yours, any more than it is the priest’s or the Primus’s! You stand before me, then do so as yourself, demon!”
She giggled. “Whatever your tastes, my love!”
Unlike her dramatic discarding of the priest’s body, the shift from “Lylia” to the true Lilith was almost instantaneous. A crimson aura momentarily surrounded the aristocratic beauty—and in the next breath the demon herself stood there.
Enough of a facial resemblance existed that no one could doubt that the two females were one and the same, but that was the only link. Lilith stood taller, as tall as Uldyssian, in fact, and moved about on splayed hooves instead of feet. Her body was dark green and hideously scaled and the lush golden hair had been replaced by the quills. Those quills ran all the way down to the reptilian tail, an appendage climaxing in wicked barbs.
Her fingers—four, not five—ended in curved claws. The hands moved tantilizingly across her torso, reminding him that she still had the ample curves that had enticed the mortal so. If anything, they were more lush and, worse for Uldyssian, unclothed. Even hating her so much as he did, he could not help surveying her body. Such was her power.
One of the hands finally led his gaze up to her face. Yes, she still looked akin to Lylia, but only in the structure. Lylia had not had sharp teeth designed for shredding or burning red orbs lacking any pupil…
“I’ve missed your touch, my darling,” Lilith whispered, her forked tongue licking over her lips. “And I know that you have missed mine…”
Uldyssian knew that she was seeking to keep him off his guard and the unfortunate thing was that she was close to succeeding. He had not realized just how much actually confronting her would affect him. Lilith, on the other hand, had obviously known all too well.
Then, Uldyssian thought about all the deaths instigated by her mad ambitions and most of the desire faded. To the demon, the lives lost had been minor matters. She had cared nothing for Serenthia’s father, for Master Ethon and his son Cedric, or Bartha, or any of the scores of Parthans and Torajians thus far slaughtered. Certainly Lilith had not had an iota of remorse even for the priests she had slaughtered, including the missionaries whose bloody demise had begun the chain of events.
Most of all, she had cared nothing for her brother, the true Primus. Clearly his destruction had merely been so that she could seize the power base that he had created in the Triune. However, that prize was one she would not long be able to savor, if he had his way.
“This temple’s fallen, Lilith,” Uldyssian declared. “What those with me haven’t torn down the flames your puppets set loose will consume. The same fate will befall the next and the next…until the great one itself near Kehj
an is the last. Then…it’ll join the rest. You’ll serve as Primus for a very short time.”
“Will I, my dear Uldyssian?” Her tail slapped lightly on the floor, sending odd bits of the senior priest scattering. Lilith leaned forward, letting her ample bounty display itself unhindered. “But how splendid…as that is exactly what I want!”
Her pronouncement startled Uldyssian. Belatedly, he realized that his mouth hung open. Face flushing, he closed it, then tried to gather his thoughts. Yet again, Lilith had proven her mastery over him with but a few words.
“Yes,” the succubus said, smiling widely. Her inhuman eyes flashed with enjoyment at his consternation. “I want you to take down the Triune! I want you to put an end to the temple…”
“But—” Uldyssian finally managed. “That makes no sense whatsoever. Now that you control the Triune…”
“Ahh, but it makes perfect sense, my love! It makes perfect sense! It is a sign of my affection for you that I tell you all this, which even my unlamented brother’s servants do not know! Yes, my little nephalem…you will destroy the temple for me…and the Cathedral of Light, too…”
But if Lilith desired something of him, Uldyssian desperately thought, telling him would surely make the man want to do just the opposite…
She either read that thought—not impossible for her—or simply understood his mind better than he. “Oh, but my dear Uldyssian! You will not have any choice in the matter! You see, if you do not do your best to stir your nephalem powers to greater life—and also those latent in the fools that follow you—I will have the Triune utterly crush you! Do you think that this is all my poor brother gathered to him? There is so much more! My brother was very clever, his only mistake was in underestimating me—”
Suddenly, Lilith stood face-to-face with Uldyssian. How she had gotten so near without him aware of it, he could not say.
“—just as you, too, always have, poor darling!”
Before Uldyssian could stop her, the demon kissed him soundly. She had done the same in the past and so he should have been prepared for it. With as much irritation at himself as hatred toward her, Uldyssian grabbed for Lilith, but the demon slipped from his grasp.
“I won’t do as you plan, damn you!” he growled. “I’m through playing your puppet! I’ll not create an army of nephalem ready to do your bidding!”
That was what she truly wanted, he knew too well. She had been among those who had created Sanctuary, but for her murderous ways—including slaying most of her companions—she had been exiled by her lover…an angel, if Lilith could be believed about anything. Those murders had revolved around the children—the first nephalem—born through the unions of the renegade demons and angels. Uldyssian could grant her credit for wishing to save them, but now it seemed that all their descendants mattered to her was as fodder or soldiers to use in her mad campaign of vengeance.
“Will you not?” she teased. “Will you not, dear love?” The demoness pulled back. “Then, why have you not attacked me yet?”
Lilith had him again…but for the last time, Uldyssian swore. He stretched out a hand toward her—
The air around the demoness started to ripple…but Lilith was no longer there. Instead, Uldyssian felt her materialize behind him.
“Much improved, my darling Uldyssian…much improved.”
He did not turn to face her, instead merely concentrating on where she was.
But…again, he was too late.
Now Lilith’s voice echoed throughout the chamber, though she herself was nowhere to be seen. “However, you still need a little more practice, I think! After all, you must be your best when facing the power of the Triune…much less sweet, treacherous Inarius.”
Try as he might, Uldyssian could not sense Lilith anywhere and that told him just how insufficient all his might was. He had expected to be able to face her much better than this, but, as before, both emotionally and physically she had played him perfectly.
“Come and face me, Lilith!” Uldyssian shouted as he turned in a circle. He sought her in every dark corner, but there was nothing, absolutely nothing save her voice, projected from far, far away.
“All in good time, my love. A little more practice first. Why, you can start by perhaps still saving some of your friends! You have so few left already…”
Her voice faded away. Caught up in his anger, he did not at first pay heed to her last comments. Then…then Uldyssian felt the terrible threat without, a threat he could only assume that Lilith’s cunning skills had shielded from his “vaunted” perceptions.
Rather than keeping Mendeln, Serenthia, and the rest safe, he had left them right where the demoness had wanted them.
Three
In a place that was not a place, the black-shrouded figure stared beyond his empty surroundings into that realm called Sanctuary by the knowledgeable few. He noted the terrible strife overtaking the city of Taraja and had already begun calculating the possible repercussions.
“He is moving too quickly,” the shadowed man said to the emptiness. “Too irrationally…”
He moves as he must…as do we…
The voice would have stilled the heart of most, for it was as much presence as it was sound. Yet, the one to whom it spoke merely nodded, for he had known the speaker so long that even its uniqueness had become too familiar.
Failure had also become too familiar, and he did not want to face it again. Failure threatened the Balance and despite centuries of learning to focus his emotions inward—where they could be controlled—a deep frown slowly spread across his marblelike countenance.
“Then…we must become more active…”
As he spoke, above him there suddenly glittered what seemed to be stars. Yet these stars moved, gradually forming an immense, serpentine figure, a creature half-seen, half-imagined…and to most, completely myth.
A dragon…
More active than the initiating of his birth brother? the stars asked, the tone invoking irony.
“More…” the shrouded figure returned defiantly, “although Mendeln ul-Diomed is far exceeding my expectations. I would almost swear that he…”
Is directly of your blood, yes…it would also explain why she chose the elder sibling for her goals. You sensed the strength slumbering in them. So would she.
“My mother would, you’re correct. So, too, would my father…” His frown deepened. “Yes, so, too, would my father.”
The stars swirled, briefly losing resemblance to the fabled beast. Of whom we have heard nothing…
The man nodded, his focus once more attuned to Sanctuary. “Yes, and that troubles me more than anything.”
As it should…The shape coalesced again. Yes…a more active role must be taken, just as you have said…
Wrapping his voluminous cloak about him, the hooded figure prepared to leave. “As I said,” he murmured more to himself than to his vaguely seen companion. “Even if it means revealing my survival to both my parents…”
Mendeln expected to die. He watched as the hammer fell, knowing that he would never move swiftly enough to escape it. None of the words in the strange tongue that he had begun to learn in his dreams came to him. A crushing death was to be his imminent fate, and although he tried to be as detached to that realization as he had become to so many other fateful moments of late, Mendeln nonetheless felt an overwhelming bitterness. He had believed that some other destiny awaited him—
Someone collided with him. Both figures tumbled to the side just as Dialon’s hammer smashed into the marble floor, creating a fissure of broken stone more than half a dozen yards in length.
“Next time don’t dream. Act,” muttered Serenthia in his ear. She leapt to her feet before Uldyssian’s brother could offer any kind of thanks…and with good reason. Dialon’s effigy turned on her, almost as if, despite the unreadable expression, the statue was furious at Serenthia for taking from it its prey.
Serenthia took aim with her spear, throwing it with accuracy enhanced by her powers. It
drove through the giant’s chest much the way Uldyssian had earlier sent the arrow through the priest’s.
At first, Mendeln thought her heroic action had been all for nothing, for Dialon moved unperturbed by the gap in its torso. After all, it was only animated stone…
But then fine cracks quickly spread forth from the hole, racing along until they covered the statue’s body with what looked almost like a web. As the effigy raised its hammer, portions of the giant began breaking off.
Serenthia gave out a warning cry to those in the vicinity of Dialon. They backed away just in time, for the hand wielding the murderous tool chose that moment to break off. As even the statue itself watched, both dropped to the floor, shattering in pieces that spread throughout the chamber.
No sooner had Dialon lost its hand, then the rest of the limb followed. That opened the floodgates, huge chunks of the stone goliath dropping like rain. The effigy looked down at its crumbling body—and the neck snapped.
As the head crashed in front of Mendeln and Serenthia, what was left of Dialon joined the wreckage.
But there were two other giants with which to contend, two giants making savage sweeps across the chamber as they hunted the tinier figures. However, Mendeln gave thanks to whatever watched over the humans, for despite their attempts, the behemoths were having little good luck since the initial slaughter. He wondered at that until he saw the hand of Mefis bounce off of the air just before Romus and a small band of Parthans and Torajians. The bearded man—a villain reformed by Uldyssian—looked to be the guiding force of this group. He stared at the menacing figure, almost seeming to defy it to break through.
There was still a good chance that it might just do that. Mendeln decided that it was time he lent his hand to the matter rather than stand around gaping while others merely struggled to survive. The shadowy gift that he had been granted had to be of some use now…
Words finally flowed through his head, words in that archaic language first glimpsed on the stone just outside Seram. They were the ones Mendeln knew that he had to speak and so Uldyssian’s brother did just that.
Diablo: The Sin War Box Set: Birthright, Scales of the Serpent, and The Veiled Prophet Page 35
