Gods of Shadow and Flame

by M. H. Johnson

  She saw her Malek, her Hound, in all his dread splendor. Crimson blood armor covered in Sigils of fearsome power, here in the actual bowels of Hell. Never had he looked deadlier. Armaments without peer able to withstand even a titan's blows, his negligently held serpentine greatsword glowing with darkest hunger, unslaked even by the veritable mountain of slain foes Malek stood astride; Cyclopes, medusae, and twisted scaled serpents all shriveled and steaming, laid low by the blood-spattered shieldbrother she had missed with all her heart.

  "Malek!" She cried, whooping with delight as she raced to her fiercely missed shieldbrother and closest friend, sensing that they were, for the moment, safe. Their terrible enemies blocked by a massive canyon on all sides.

  Malek laughed with delight, turning to gaze upon her, leaping effortlessly from the vast flood of corpses he and his companions had slain, racing towards Jess, and within but an instant they held each other close, laughing and crying with the terror and wonder of it all, never mind the stench of death and the endless wailing of lost souls, even as the crimson skies above howled like the vast army they had only faced but the smallest fragment of, allowing themselves but a moment's sweetest reunion as they gazed into each other's eyes before the abyssal madness consumed them once more.

  “By all the gods in Heaven, Jess, I regret you even being here, but it is so good to see you.”

  “It’s Jezabelle now, Hound, as you should well know,” reproved the cat now wrapped comfortably about Malek’s shoulders, Malek’s only response being to grin and give his ancient friend an affectionate pat.

  Jessica de Calenbry, Jesaria the cook, Jezabelle of the Moonlit Garden. Just a few of the many names she had embraced over countless lifetimes, a shuddering Jess realized, gazing into her beloved Malek’s eyes, feeling somehow as if all those fractured parts of her soul had been fused by the sacred mirror she held even now into one terrible, beautiful whole. She blinked back tears that fell like brilliant diamonds flickering in the infernal light, hugging her beloved Malek fiercely once more before letting him go with the lightest of kisses upon his bloodstained cheek.

  “And I refuse to surrender you, my Hound. You are no piece to be spent cheaply upon Lilith's twisted board. We stand together as one. Even against all the legions of Hell, as we always have before.

  Malek’s expression turned grave, sparing only a contemptuous glance for the legions of Hell howling and roaring at the other side of the vast canyon. He gave Jess’s hand a gentle squeeze as he pulled his gaze away.

  Jess. That was her name. Jezabelle blinked, nodding softly, choosing in that moment to embrace the name given to her last, by a mother who had truly loved her. Only in that moment did she register Malek’s companions, so focused she had been on being beside her shieldbrother once more. She gazed solemnly at the three mighty heroes who had so braved the very legions of Hell. One stood tall and proud, eyes crackling with a golden intensity no longer hiding his true nature, and Jess was well aware that there was far more to Morlekai than the soul of an ancient Delver.

  The two companions he watched over, however, held no such potent secrets, save the might of any Delver powerful enough to survive in the Abyss itself, a heritage beyond the purely mortal. Beautiful Lucienda and wild, passionate Alacabar. Both crackling with an inhuman vitality and potency, thanks to the chalice of dread power they had drunk deep from, here, in a realm far lower than the darkest nightmares of Shadow. Yet for all that, they were both clearly dying.

  Lucienda's pallor was ghastly, her breathing hitched as she grimaced with pain, even though it was darkest ether and not proper air at all that they breathed down here for sustenance; dread vapors only a hellion or Delver could possibly survive upon. A feast of essence, the lost power of countless souls, and not proper air at all. Yet Jess sensed that despite the constant stream of rejuvenating power, it was only a matter of time before death would claim the solemn-faced beauty at last.

  A wryly grinning Alacabar presently coughing pink froth upon his fiery red beard did not look much better. The sight of such noble souls slowly being pulled towards death broke Jess's heart.

  Alacabar met Jess’s gaze. His smile hinted at a touch of chagrin, as if embarrassed to find himself wounded in the field of battle, coughing up his lungs, never mind that he had been battling the very armies of Hades. “So our Hound’s shieldsister has returned! Last I saw you, you were looking every inch the sweet nobleman’s daughter, resting in the shade of your apple grove. Must say this is the last place I ever expected to see you again, girl, for all that you look a bit more potent at present, what with your blazing wings and sword and all.” His soft chuckle ended in a ragged gasp, Jess’s compassionate gaze turning at last to the man gently comforting his wounded friend.

  Morlekai's hand rested upon a wheezing Alacabar's brow, even as his fiery golden eyes, all humanity burned away with the terrors of Hell, met her own. He smiled even as Jess shivered with a sudden electric charge, feeling the gaze of a being near as powerful as the gods above, caressing her with his eyes, filled as they were with adoration and pain.

  “By the gods, how I’ve missed you, girl.” His smile was a sad, bitter thing as his gaze fastened upon what Jess suddenly realized was the gold ring upon a string of hair her beloved Joshua had solemnly placed about her neck; a keepsake and a symbol of his heartsworn love for her. Strange. Significant only in what it signified between Joshua and herself, it had otherwise been a humble enough ring. Yet here it shown with a golden fiery glory as great as the mithril mail she wore. That it had not been lost in the mad frenzy of battle was another mystery that defied comprehension.

  “True love,” Morlekai whispered. “A light, shining in the darkness that would consume us all.”

  Jess smiled. "I missed you too, Morlekai," she whispered, recalling at that moment many turnings of the seasons where the man she saw before her had been far more than a chance met Delver. Lifelong friend and husband, devoted father of her children, all roles he had played, more than once in her countless lifetimes, and she had the sneaking suspicion that he, unlike her and Malek, had always been aware of who and what he was.

  “Have you always known?”

  He nodded, understanding at once what she meant.

  “Every turning of the wheel, I have Delved and fought and done all I could to protect your realm, beloved Jezabelle.” His smile was gentle. “And no sweeter were the memories that I had than when we were in love, living life’s adventure together, whether we be as humble as the gentlest commoner, or lived as majesties, with dominion over all the lands and peoples we had once called home.”

  “But you always knew.”

  He sighed. "Always. There was no way I could tell you. A promise I had made to David, long ago. But you had claimed my heart when you raised yourself, pure and brilliant from the very bowels of Hell, so many eons ago."

  Jess felt her heart race with his tender words.

  “Fierce and beautiful you were, my dear Jezabelle. A paladin as pure and noble as I, a Fallen angel, could ever hope to be.” His smile bespoke of the sweetest love, poignant. Beautiful.

  His treacherous eyes couldn't keep from gazing anew at her ring, and his sad grimace touched her heart. "The one promise I made to myself was that I would always honor your choice. Never use my knowledge, never use the love we once had shared to influence you. The moment your heart found another, I always found the strength to back away. No matter how much I yearned to hold you, to love you, to cherish you once more."

  Jess was rendered speechless. Touched and honored more than she could possibly say. Her hand grasped the brilliant golden ring upon her neck with an aching intensity. The metal did not warp, the strand of her beloved hair did not snap, despite her inhuman strength, her shaking grasp. After a long searing moment lost within his gaze, she forced the words past her lips. “And that is why. When Joshua declared his love for me. When I felt my heart melt for him…”

  Morlekai nodded. “I let him lead, in this dance for your heart. He w
ho has but one life to live, to savor your love. Whilst I have eternity.” He sighed. “Or so I tell myself in the cold, lonely years when you are far from my side.”

  "Yet you never seemed to mind when our Hound claimed her heart," noted a sapphire-eyed cat gazing at him curiously, Malek of a sudden blushing furiously.

  Morlekai shrugged. "You three are bound. The fate of your world has always hinged upon your actions. It would be the ultimate folly for me to ever play one chord against another in a song so noble and true." His smile turned positively roguish then. "And more than half the time, our Malek has an insatiable hunger for the fiercest of men. I never minded sharing myself, so long as you were a part of that package, my dear Jezabelle."

  Malek flushed even as Jess’s bemused laughter rang at odds with the horror of the terrible field of slaughter they stood upon.

  Midnight gave a thoughtful dip of his head. “Logical, I suppose. I do recall you and our Hound being quite close, on any number of occasions. Angels, I have found, are rarely choosy when it comes to the physical forms of their heart’s desire. Those who embrace human passions, in any event.”

  Jess stared thoughtfully at her cat. “You seem to know an awful lot about the ways of angels, my dear kitty.”

  Midnight flashed a toothy grin. “I ought to. I have cared for one through countless lifetimes, after all.”

  Jess felt an icy chill so unlike the hot rage that had so fueled her through the titanic battle they had just survived. Almost without thinking, she brushed her fingers gently against the pale sweaty brows of Lucienda and Alacabar, firmly commanding their souls to hold strong, to heal, never mind that they had been torn viciously by endless legions of Hell, straining under the weight of monstrous power roaring through them. Souls; those fragile, precious strings of memory and potential heeded their mistress's call, she who had cared for them for endless millennium in the realm above. And with a shriek that transcended all mortal pain, Lucienda and Alacabar gasped, choking and spitting as if they had been drowning.

  “Stop, Jess!” Morlekai’s voice cut like a whip, even as Jess snapped her hand back, looking at it as if it had been a live thing acting of its own accord.

  “We are already too deep within the darkness, my Jess,” Malek soothed, gently grasping his shieldsister’s shoulders. “We are saturated with more power than any of those Guildmasters up high could even conceive. Anything more, even a jolt of essence to reforge broken flesh, could cause us to rupture completely.”

  Jess hissed, chagrined. “Heavens above, I’m sorry Lucienda, Alacabar. I didn’t know.”

  Lucienda gave a pale smile through her grimace. “'Tis all right, Valkyrie. Even I can see the purity of your heart, for all that you would steal my man.” She laughed softly, raising her hand at Jess’s look of surprise. “Nay, I jest, child. None of us can control the turnings of fate and destiny, not over lifetimes, and my beloved fallen angel has the advantage of all of us in that.”

  Her gaze turned thoughtful. “Truth to tell, I feel just a bit better, even if my insides still feel like they are burning from within.” She hissed as a new wave of pain flooded through her.

  Alacabar, also pale, turned to gaze up at Jess. “Fret not, Lass. You could hardly make our situation worse, we who lack any Claimance to divine or eldritch heritage.”

  Morlekai’s gaze was gentle. “I commend you, dearest Jess. Your touch is that of an angel, easing to repair a wounded soul. But in this place, at this time, you could only do more harm than good.”

  Jess grimaced. “I am no angel, Morlekai. Far from it. Far, far from it.” She shuddered, her mind unable to block images of deeds wondrous and terrible committed endless eons ago in a land so very like this one.

  Twilight's sapphire orbs burned into Jessica's own. "It's time you accepted who and what you truly are, my queen."

  Morlekai gave a dry throaty chuckle. “What is the child of man, dear Jezabelle?”

  Jess shrugged. “A man, of course.”

  “Is a man born a paladin?”

  Jess gave a firm shake of her head. “That is a power and a privilege that must be earned by duties virtuous, and a heart that is true.”

  Morlekai smiled. “And is a child of a criminal born a criminal?”

  “Of course not!” Jess was offended at the thought of burdening a child with the sins of her parents.

  Malek shook his head bemusedly, eyes filled with speechless awe even as he grinned. “Don’t you get it, Jess?”

  Jess, heart racing, shook her head. She knew exactly how terrible and fierce her black hatred was. Her thirst for vengeance. The ocean of rage that had consumed her through so many lifetimes. That her original mother was a queen of Hell, and Jess a damned creature who had earned reprieve by the noblest of sacrifices was a truth she could no longer deny, in that place of horror, where all artifice had been stripped away. She had come, after all, through the very mirror she held in her hand even now.

  Yet there was more. So much more. Doors within her mind she had kept locked tightly shut, unaware of even their existence until this very moment.

  Cracking open to reveal a terrible light she feared would consume her, body and soul.

  She could not bear the words she sensed washing over her, blinking away diamond hard tears dropping to the ground.

  Morlekai raised his hand, silencing Malek before he pushed too hard.

  “Jess,” he said softly. “Our David is in trouble. You know that, right?”

  Trembling, Jess nodded. “But Mother… Lilith… she was never really here. That portal she was using to view us through, gazing down at the whole damned army while safe in her warren.” Her words were bitter. Morlekai only nodded.

  “That’s not important now, Jess…”

  Jess gazed at Morlekai in shock.

  “She is torturing and killing David! How can you say that’s not important?”

  Morlekai gave a frustrated shake of his head. “Listen!”

  Jess blinked, taken aback by the urgency of his tone, like an instructor trying to coax a student too terrified to move off the brink of a precipice that was about to collapse. Jess wondered what would happen if it did collapse… would she fall to her death? Or…

  “Jess!” Jess blinked, focusing entirely on Morlekai. The roars and cackles of the vile masses across the chasm, the stench of sulfur and shrieking souls seeming ever farther away. An army given pause by naught but a handful of Delvers trained to harvest the power of dreams, now drunk on the terrible power of Hell itself. Of course, one was an angel who had surrendered his wings; one, herself, had once been a queen of a Hell very like the one they faced, and her cat and hound were far, far more than they seemed.

  She shivered at the cold icy touch of dark memories she shied from even now. Even as she sensed the true awful might of the legions they had faced, no longer caught off guard by an enemy tearing through them at unpredictable angles, the Delvers they had faced cut off and pinned by Lilith's magics, now lined up for the vile millions of tormented souls and Fallen to focus their slowly mounting power upon in all its dread, awful glory. It was a power that would open gates between worlds, spell doom for entire realms of existence. All they had needed was time to focus their terrible might. Time their mistress Lilith had given them, pinning her enemies upon an island of stone surrounded by sudden vast chasms filled with furiously boiling molten rock. All according to Lilith's awful plan. The soldiers she had sacrificed? But a single pawn in the vast game she played, seeking control of all the boards of reality before she was done.

  Jess sensed all of this, sensed the terrible energies her foes were slowly summoning into being, even as she gazed deep into Midnight’s all too knowing eyes, realizing that soon she would have to face all truths, open all the doors of her psyche, no matter how great the cost, no matter how sharp the pain.

  The only two humans among them, though hours away from death, were themselves far more than human, Jess suddenly realized, divine ancestry shining forth from their souls. As it mu
st. For no purely human Delver could possibly survive in the bowels of Hell, no matter how mighty their mastery of Shadow and dream. Yet how exactly did she sense their heritage? She blinked. Suddenly confused. Thoughts racing with a power and terror that overwhelmed her.

  Gently, Morlekai grasped her shaking cheeks and forced her eyes to meet his own. “The horn, my dearest Jess. Can you hear the horn? Echoing its mournful call, even now? Calling those of pure spirit and heart, they who sailed the heavens as paladins of the spirit. Angels, my Jess.” Morlekai’s words hammered into her soul, his fierce golden gaze locked upon her own.

  “Can you hear the Horn of the Heavenly Host, Jess? Can you hear its call?”

  Heart hammering, breath coming in ragged gasps, trickling tears transforming to diamonds falling down her cheeks without ceasing, Jess could no longer deny the truth of it.

  That terrible note, ringing its endless, mournful call; resonating even through realms as lost as this one. The horn. Calling out for the aid of the Heavenly Host. Angels given right and passage to come to mortal aid. To descend to realms tainted by folly and despair, bestowing the virtues of the holy upon the fallen masses begging for mercy and guidance.

  A horn who’s mournful call shook her soul. She could deny it no longer.

  Morlekai’s words blazed in her mind. “Then fly! Fly, my Jess. Answer the horn’s call and cross the Chasm of Eternity. Go to David and save him. You are kin to angels, my Jess. Spread your wings wide and answer the call!”

  Jess shook. Thunderstruck. “Wings?”

  Malek sighed. “Yes, Jess. The blazing wings of ivory and ebony you flew in on? They are sort of flapping on your shoulders? Kind of covered in blood, actually. I think you were using them to help kill your foes.”

  Morlekai nodded. “As would a true angel of battle. Not an angel of mercy, like our David, who needs you now!”

  His last words a command, Jess could bear it no longer. Closing her eyes, tears streaming, she forced herself to accept the words of those she loved