by Luke Valen
“What about us? Don’t we need to cloak our energy too?” Bryon asked, throwing his hands in the air.
Laughing at Bryon’s sincere concern, I put on the necklace.
“I think you’ll be okay, Bryon,” Jade said. “Plus you still have that one Nile gave you.”
“Oh, right.” Byron pulled out his amulet. “Phew.”
“All right, then. Let’s go,” Al said, throwing his headscarf and cloak back on covering every inch of skin.
I am the seeker in the night.
CHAPTER 13
THE BIRTH OF DEATH
A dark voice came rumbling out of an arched black, rock hallway. “What news do you bring, soldier, that you have called us together?”
Asorath stood in the middle of the stone cavern hundreds of miles underground. Carved from the hands of demons themselves, the catacombs joined as a cavern, dark and wet. Red-hot magma flowed from six surrounding archways like waterfalls of lava into a river of fire that led to the middle of the room becoming one, forming into a moat that surrounded the perfectly round stone floor. The river of fiery death bubbled and sizzled. Hidden away, their eyes focused on the demon, center stage.
Asorath bowed his head. “Elders, I wish I came bearing good news. Such is not the case. He is losing touch. She has blurred his vision.”
“How sssso?” a snake-like voice said, coming from the third tunnel clockwise.
“The balance is shifting quickly. Our kind is falling by the thousands. Yet, he focuses on her and the stone,” Asorath announced, his voice echoing throughout the cave.
Another voice came from the sixth tunnel behind Asorath. “Why do you not simply kill the girl?” The voice was so cold and deep, it froze the lava coming from its tunnel.
“We cannot,” Asorath said a bit quieter.
The slithering voice came again. “Why notttt?”
“We have tried. She is…protected.” Asorath bowed his head once again.
A slow, raspy voice came from the first tunnel on the left. “Who has tried?”
“Myself—Legion—and his sister, Beth. The girl is not like us.” The room was silent, waiting for his next words.
“She is his kin. She is just like us,” another voice said, coming from the fourth.
“I believe there is something Lucifer is not telling us,” Asorath said. He paused before saying the next words. “I believe she is a half-breed.” The entire room exploded into accusations being crossed left and right from tunnel to tunnel, all aimed at Asorath.
The deepest voice of all came from the fifth tunnel on the right. “Silence!”
The cave fell silent in obedience. The drip of falling water droplets could be heard hitting the hard, stone floors.
“What makes you say such things? Lucifer knows best of all the rules,” the deep voice continued.
Asorath turned to face the tunnel. “Her mother. The woman Lucifer laid with, she was a soul tossed out of the church and condemned to Hell. She attempted to end herself. Lucifer made a deal we were not aware of. He spared the woman from death in exchange for a child,” Asorath said. “Lucifer in his lustful haste for child did not know who the woman was—”
“And who might that be, demon?” the deepest rumbling voice asked.
“She, elders, was of direct lineage of her—the virgin,” Asorath said with his head standing tall.
The deep voice shook the room in quickened anger as it grew louder. “Impossible. We tracked her lineage for generations. They have all been wiped out. I made sure of it myself.”
The others echoed.
“Impossible.”
“Lies.”
“Lies!”
“This is the truth, I swear by it, friends. I do not come to deceive. Her bloodline is that of the woman. The child’s mother did not have the strength to survive the birth, her sacrifice…it cleansed the child.”
“How did we not know of this until now?” the cold voice spoke.
“The child had not shown signs outside the realm until recently,” Asorath continued. “She has been accessing both sides. We had never seen anything like it—the mixture was undetectable. We cannot touch her. Her strength is unmeasurable. Weak at the time, but growing…quickly.”
“We must guide her into the right directionnnn,” the slithering voice hissed from the darkness of its tunnel. “We must bring her into the darknessss.”
“Who has He sent to protect the girl demon?” a raspy voice trembled.
“The boy. Michael’s son,” Asorath said.
“Had he not been taken care of by your hand a thousand years ago?” the deepest voice rumbled.
Asorath bowed his head in shame. “He was.”
“You’re certain the boy is the son of Michael?” the cold voice said, freezing the air.
“Yes, I have fought him myself,” Asorath continued. “His power is returning at an incalculable rate. We must take action before it is too late. Together, the boy and girl would be unstoppable. Our plans are in effect and soldiers are awaiting orders.”
“What do you proposssse?” the snake-like voice asked.
“Lucifer is not fit. He is torn. Enable me. I will get the job done. I will move our kind into the kingdom. I will not fail you. Strengthen me, brothers. I am ready.”
“What news of his other—the boy?” said one of the demons who had been silent.
Asorath turned in anger to face the tunnel from which the voice had spoken.
“The child is too young. He does not know yet how to control his power. He will destroy everything. His power is too strong. If we released him now, there would be nothing for us to conquer. Lucifer keeps him locked away. We could not access him if we wanted to.” Asorath spoke quickly. “I will get the job done. What say you?”
The room began to buzz with mumbled conversation. Back and forth, the demons in the hidden tunnels argued. Asorath stood on the round stone floor surrounded by the melting hot lava, looking from tunnel to tunnel as each spoke. Water steamed as it dropped from the cave top, hitting the red-hot magma below. After a few moments, the room slowly grew quiet.
The deepest voice came, shaking the cavern. “Do not fail us.”
With its words came forth six glowing red eyes the shape of almond-like rubies, stacked three on one side, three on the other. The creature’s clawlike hand emerged from the darkness in a slow track toward Asorath. The dinosaur hand pointed its finger as it neared Asorath, slowly it touched the demon’s forehead. In an instant, a red explosion of light brightened the room from the point of contact.
Like ants attacking their food, demons of all shapes and sizes crawled out from under the ground and through the lava. Screaming and yelling in anger and agony, they ravaged and swarmed the room. As fast as a tornado, they circled and spun around Asorath, crawling and ripping their way into his body and mouth, his eyes and ears, his skin and bone. Absorbing them into his being, his eyes opened wide. The red glow was like beams of light reaching the top of the cavern.
Darkness filled the room, the screams and cries of the damned echoed and pierced the cavern walls as they became one in the shell of Asorath’s burnt and damned soul. Just as quickly as they had come, they were absorbed into his being.
The demon hit his knees, his head fell forward, and his eyes closed.
“How do you feel, brotherrrrrr?” the snake asked.
Asorath took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Heat left his body in waves, steam bellowed from his shoulders. As he leaned his head back, he opened his once-red eyes. His eyes now blacker than black, pure darkness, nothingness, no shine, no glow. Black. Standing from his knees, his once-bony, skeleton-like body was now that of an ox. Strong and muscular, no skin, no hair, his exposed muscles the color of the night sky. Standing thirty feet tall, his clawlike hands reached to the ground, his chest barreled with strength and size. His snout-like face had grown wide, his tusks elongated. From his back, dinosaur-like spikes lined his spine.
Taking in a deep breath, he exhaled. “I.
Am. Death.”
CHAPTER 14
SILVER TONGUE
The land surrounding the mansion was quiet. The cool mountain air stood as still as a statue against the clear glass windows. An eerie feeling—no wind blowing, no animals wandering, no trees dancing or creaking. Complete silence.
Like a hot knife through butter, the sound of soft breathing could be heard inside a room in the castle. Abigail’s sleeping breath moved the air inside her room as she rested her bones, recovering from the excitement earlier that day. In the other room, about fifty yards away, mumbling could be heard ever so slightly through the closed doors of Mr. Li’Ved’s office.
“Good work, Barbas. With this, you have made your kind proud,” Mr. Li’Ved said to a small gremlin-like creature. His modest stature that of a koala bear, he stood on his hind legs with his pointy ears perked straight up. His big brown eyes stared at Mr. Li’Ved with pride as his large gaping mouth smiled, revealing hundreds of razor-like teeth.
“Thank you, master. What will you do with it now?” Barbas asked, staring at the object he had just handed to Mr. Li’Ved.
“Don’t worry about that, my loyal servant,” Lucifer said, ogling his new prize. “Just know that we will be advancing our plans. Time is becoming short; we must take action. Ready the spirits. Await my orders.”
“Yes, master,” Barbas gurgled up. He bowed his head and vanished into a cloud of smoke.
“Very good job, my little demon,” Mr. Li’Ved said to himself as he stared at the small object wrapped in a tattered cloth. After a few moments of adoration, he made his way to his artifact room. The door’s hinges creaked as it gave way to his most prized possessions, all held in one glorious room.
With the artifact in hand, his eyes locked onto the large object hidden under the black cloth.
Click. Clack. Click. Clack.
His wood-bottomed shoes tapped the ground with each step, marking his approach. Passing the glass-encased antiquities, each seemingly more valuable than the other, he arrived at the large, odd-shaped object.
The towering covered item began to shake as Mr. Li’Ved approached. Standing there, Mr. Li’Ved reached out his right hand, grabbing hold of the black sheet, with his newest trophy in his left. With one strong downward pull, Mr. Li’Ved exposed the tall, rocklike Goliath.
Standing eight feet tall, the stone loomed over Lucifer like a giant looking down. The top of which was sharp and pointed like the peak of a mountain with two smaller ridges to the right and left of the taller center peak. The sides and back were rough and unsymmetrical, round and sharp rocky edges texturing the stone. While the front was smooth as glass and black as night, its matte finish reflected not one atom of light. The shaking stopped the instant the rock face was revealed.
—§—
The creaking of the door must have been enough to wake Abigail in the silence of the house. She had made her way downstairs and followed the clacking of her father’s wood-bottomed shoes.
“Daddy?” Her soft voice yawned as she approached the open door to the artifact room, stretching both arms above her head. Her blonde hair a mess from the deep slumber. Though his focus was so intense that the quiet noise of her freshly awakened voice was not heard.
“Come forward, boy. I have something to show you,” he said to the stone.
Abigail stopped at the entrance of the room just after spotting her father speaking to the stone. She knelt down and hid behind the opening of the door, just peeking her head in enough to see and hear what was going on. Her senses awakened in an instant, and adrenaline pumped through her veins, her eyes dilating like that of a hawk and ears perked like a rabbit listening for danger.
“You make all that fuss and then don’t want to show me your beautiful face?” her father said, trying to coax the stone.
The matte black rock face began to reveal the outline of a shape.
“That’s it,” Mr. Li’Ved said.
The shape began to form. Becoming larger and more distinct, it began to look almost human. The blackness of the stone evaporated away, making visible an abomination.
“There he is,” Mr. Li’Ved said.
The creature’s face was as the shape of any average man, though missing both eyes and a nose. Also lacking hair and ears. A smooth head and seamless face. His mouth gaping wide open at the bottom of the face, positioned as normal just above the jaw. Every anatomical muscle fiber in plain sight, yet black as tar. No masculine or feminine appendages were apparent, although exposed. Its muscular neck led down to a well-maintained body. The muscle mass was that of a conditioned athlete, strong and solid. Out of its chiseled chest jutted four S-shaped horns, one on top of the other two on each chest. The arms and shoulders were exposed muscle with razor-sharp, ridgelike bones slicing through every three inches of surface lining the sides of its arms. The rocklike abdomen was as one solid piece of meat.
“My son,” her father said.
“Hello, Father,” the deep, alien-like voice said. His mouth dripping tar like blood.
“Son? Father?” Abigail whispered to herself, hiding in the back of the room just a stone’s throw away, having moved in from curiosity.
“What is taking so long?” the faceless creature asked.
“Patience, my son, we are almost there. Today we have made a tremendous leap forward with this find,” Mr. Li’Ved said as he pulled out the cloth, unraveling it to expose a railroad-like spike of a nail. Rusted and chipped, the pointed end was darker than the rest.
“I don’t care about your silly toys! I have been patient! Release me!” the boy snarled. The rock enclosure shook as the creature slammed his fists on the glasslike stone.
“You remember who you are speaking to! These ‘toys’ are what is needed to release you!” her father yelled back at the image of the creature held within the flat stone surface. “It is not as easy as you may believe, and you are not ready. You do not know how to control your strength.”
The boy paced back and forth. “You let that worthless half-breed you call a daughter run the grounds of earth like it is her playground, and yet you will not release me?! I hate you! I hate her!”
“Half-breed?” Abigail muttered from her hiding place.
“You will respect her!” Mr. Li’Ved said. “She is our still our blood. Half-breed or not.”
“You play by every rule of His, except that one. You knew what you were doing with the woman. You knew who she was. Release me, Father. I am ready to claim my throne.”
Mr. Li’Ved moved closer to the stone. “You must learn to control your strength or there will be no throne for you to claim.”
Just as Mr. Li’Ved had finished his sentence, Abigail lost her footing from where she had been leaning in closer to listen, and she stumbled forward.
“Ah,” she said, catching herself on all fours.
The creature turned its head to face Abigail. “Hello, little sister.”
“Abigail?” Mr. Li’Ved slapped the smooth surface of the rock, causing the image of the creature to vanish instantaneously. A look of fear and shock painted his face.
Abigail slowly stood up. “Father, who was that? Who were you talking to?”
“Abigail, you don’t know what you are talking about. You are still delirious from earlier. You hit your head very hard, baby,” Mr. Li’Ved said, calmly approaching Abigail.
“Who was that? I know what I saw. Why were you calling him son? What were you talking about?” Abigail asked, taking small steps backward without breaking eye contact with her father.
“Abigail, come here. Let me take you back up to bed,” Mr. Li’Ved said, reaching out his hand to take hold of hers.
Abigail took a few more steps backward. “Don’t treat me like a little kid,” Abigail said with anger in her voice. “Stop lying to me.” Her wrist began to flicker and glow a bright red. Her blue eyes faded to black.
“Abigail, baby. It’s time to calm down now! Come here, come to daddy.” Mr. Li’Ved said, reaching closer to grab Abigai
l by the hand.
“You’re a liar!” she yelled, releasing a pulse of energy and sending Mr. Li’Ved flying backward. All the artifacts in the room shook and fell from their posts. Her kind voice…changed. No longer sweet and innocent, but dark and malevolent.
“Abigail. You. Will. Obey me!” her father yelled as he rose from the ground. His body fuming, his eyes red and black. He ran as fast as a lion after its prey, with her in his sight. A black aura surrounded her.
“You told me he was dead. You told me I was going to inherit the kingdom,” she vociferated. “You are going to release him, aren’t you?” Mr. Li’Ved grabbed her by the arm. She fought back, taking hold of his wrist, bringing him to his knees, nearly crippling him. “Aren’t you!” Her voice deep and echoing.
“Yes.” Mr. Li’Ved looked her in her dark eyes.
There seemed to be a sense of pride he felt looking into her rage-filled heart. Evil personified brought to his knees by a small blonde girl. Her hair danced in the dark air as the energy emitted from the two tossed and turned the room. Artifacts, paintings, placeholders alike flew through the air and crashed to the ground in a whirlwind of art. Mr. Li’Ved still on his knees in the grip of his daughter. “I’ve never seen this from you, my daughter.” Her grip tightened. “I—am…so proud of you. But you need to let Daddy go. I need you to calm down, and I will explain everything,” he struggled to say through the agony she so easily inflicted.
Abigail took a second, still staring into her father’s now-blue eyes. A moment passed as she released a deep breath along with his wrist. The items swirling around crashed to the floor, the room stood in shambles. Quiet and broken. Her hair returned to her side, and blue filled her eyes like drops in the dark ocean. Though this time, something seemed to have changed. The blue was not quite as blue. Mr. Li’Ved exhaled and grabbed his wrist, rubbing it in pain.
“Good girl,” he said, standing to his feet as she dropped to her knees with tear-filled eyes. Like waterfalls, her tears fell forming a pond beneath her disheartened face.