War of Existence : - The Beginning of Saga

The Late General

The Captain’s quarter was as expected, the fanciest in the entire ship. Complete with a luxurious bed, expensive trinkets, high quality table and sofa. Lucifer and Luna along with William were now sitting on the couch. A few guards with along with Rose were also there, standing a bit further from them.

The atmosphere was very tense. So trying to be a good host, Captain William asked, “Anything you would like before we begin?”

“Something to eat and drink if it isn’t a bother… And some cigar too.” Lucifer replied.

The Captain nodded and gestured his men, who scurried away hastily. Lucifer leaned back a bit on the sofa and asked, “As much as I hate to ask….Why is there a pack of Hellhounds at the bottom Deck?” Luna felt uneasy at the mention of this.

The Captain rubbed his chin and replied, “They were some Escapees from the last Demon-brutum  war* in Inferno. Many of them had fled to the Cosmos during the end of the war...We just send them back home.”

“To be enslaved and turned into beast of war…” concluded Lucifer.

“That’s past the point. Not that your kind did any well, Angels committed g******e of all the Brutums of Celestia. We just put them to good use.”

Luna seemed to have had enough and snapped, “Would cut the crap about Brutums already and get to the point why we are here!”

Seeing generally happy and smiling Luna acting so aggressive was both surprising and concerning for Lucifer. But she had a point and The Captain agreed too, “The young lady is right. Forgive me for my outburst…As I was saying, do you know why you are here?”

“Not a clue...” deadpanned Lucifer, “But I am more curious as to why are YOU here on Cosmos? And more importantly, how did you even get here? Last I checked the gate of Inferno was shut closed after the War of existence*.”

The old demon gave a dry chuckle, “Well, why we are here is because we want to undo what you did all those eons ago.” Lucifer stood silent ominously at this, “The Key of Existence*?” he was asked and William nodded.

“Indeed, the Artefact we are looking for is the key of Existence.” Replied the old Demon.

“What?” asked Luna in confusion.

Rose spoke up at this, “The Key of Existence, an ancient artefact which was once used by the Angels to seal away our kind in Inferno.”

“And we are fortunate that we were able to find one of its fragments before anyone else.” Added William proudly, having no knowledge that it was Luna who had unleashed the damned thing in the first place.

“That still doesn’t explain how the Demons escaped inferno.” Stated Lucifer.

“Forgive me Late General, sensitive information is not for an enemy….Are you not our enemy?” countered the Captain.

“We are having a civil conversation without coming to blows. That must count as something, but that still remains to be seen.”

“Well, in that case………Let’s just say we found a ‘Loop Hole’…”

Lucifer narrowed his eyes, “So anything I missed while I was busy in Cosmos.”

“Many things, Late General. In fact, every sane Immortal is tearing worlds apart for the key.”

This made Lucifer a bit surprised, “Really now?....Damn I missed a lot of things. In Fact, your crew is the only Immortals I’ve met besides Luna in eons.”

A few servants entered the quarter and placed a tray containing Vorkish meat breads and a mug of beer. Lucifer pushed the tray towards Luna who ate the breads wordlessly while Lucifer downed the beer in one go. Making the demons raise a brow at his odd behaviour.

Done with his beer, he lit a cigar and placed it in his mouth. With a long drag, Lucifer spoke, “So it didn’t get boring while I was gone…..What is the situation between the two immortal races?”

“What else can there be? Apart from usual mistrust and hate. Let’s say we are still in a state of war.”

“How so?”

The captain smirked, “You are prying on sensitive information Late General.”

Lucifer chuckled at this, “This old war dog is way beyond its fighting days, Captain.”

“Yet the bruises on my men says an entirely another story, Late General.” They shared a dry laugh at this. Lucifer took another drag of his cigar, very much aware of the eyes of demons on him watching intently. William was the first one to speak his mind, “I see you have got well acquainted with mortal customs.”

Lucifer nodded at this. Immortals may take the form of any mortal race but that didn’t mean they had to be hindered by mortal needs and eating was also a mortal need. Seeing an immortal eat, drink and smoke was a very new occurring to them so he simply replied, “Try being stuck between mortals for eons and you will get more than well acquainted.”

William nodded at this. A long silence followed. Finally the old demon shook his head and spoke, “I guess I can slip in a few information…After your…um….Stunt with the keys so many eons ago...” Lucifer chuckled dryly at being reminded of the past, yet his eyes seemed blank. William continued, “The keys were tossed down Celestia and ended up being scattered all over Cosmos.”

“I’ll be damned.” Mumbled Lucifer sulking back at his seat. He rubbed his eyes and concluded,“So basically, Demons found a way to escape and are searching for keys….Wouldn’t it be easier to just storm out and declare war all over again?”

“Tempting, but foolish choice, Late General. Our means of escaping inferno is good but cannot bare the entire weight of the Inferno’s Legion. Not to mention that will attract the entire Celestia’s attention. Like…What do mortals say?.....Fly to a carcass.”

“Any luck on either side?”

“Of the angels I know not, but we have the lead. Thanks to you, Sir, we have one Key fragment. This shall boast the hopes of our people. Especially when many of us were losing hope that we would even find anything on this parallel. I tell you, you have no idea how many worlds we had to search, only to recover some old Immortal relic or Brutum refuges.”

 “And if confronted with angels?”

William rubbed his chin at this- “Well,….Hard to say. We have tried to be very discreet in our approach in Cosmos. Too much activity would attract attention. A run in with an angel scouts is very dangerous.  Most avoid direct confrontation. Lethal measures are used to make sure no angel having knowledge of demonic presence in Cosmos survives or else nothing is stopping the Golden army from marching down the Celestial Gates and obliterating the entire world.” Lucifer caught the meaning of that.

“So, it’s like a Cold War.” He concluded.

“If the comparison must be made, then yes.”

The blond angel took a last drag from his cigar before extinguishing it on an ashtray. Running his hand over his scar over his left eye he asked a question softly, “Was she given…..Proper farewell?”

His voice was low, sprinkled with traces of guilt. It surprised William, but out of respect he didn’t voice it and answered truthfully, “After the death of General Lilith…” Lucifer’s demeanour dropped at this statement yet he ushered The Captain to continue, “The Inferno’s Legion was not able to carry one Fighting without her leadership. The General was the Best amongst us; after all she was trained by you.”

Lucifer had a ghost of a smile gracing his lips for a while -“Aye, she was something else.”

William nodded and carried on –“Our Supreme Mephos took the news far more severely. Lilith was the closest thing she had to a daughter. Losing her was devastating. But yes, she was given a proper farewell.” Lucifer sighed and rubbed his forehead. Being reminded of his past, he now felt a lot worst.

‘Forgive me for all I did, but I had no choice’ he repeated his mantra over and over in his head.

It was then Luna really made her presence known again by a simple question, “You still haven’t told why we are here.”

This hit all of them like a ton of bricks. So focused they were in their conversation that they eventually forgot the real agenda at hand. The captain laughed nervously at this while wiping the build up sweat drops he had on his forehead, “Sure-Sure, um…” he fumbled with his words at how to really approach this subject.

The old demon cleared his throat and asked, “Late General, the information I just told you now creates a dilemma. With all that you know, I’m afraid the consequences of the Angels finding you will not bode us well.”

Lucifer scoffed at this, “Fear not, they have cut ties with me eons ago.”

William raised a brow at this, “Really now? Even if they welcomed you back, you would refuse?”

“Yes...I’ve grown used to roam around with mortals. Not to mention they will just execute Luna on sight. Too uptight, if you know what I mean.”

A former angel making fun of his former kin was actually quite a funny sight to behold so Lucifer’s statement earned chuckles and snickers across the room. Finally when the laughing died down William decided to say the real matter, “If that the case have a proposition for you.”

                                                                                       ---X---

His mace hit the head of a man with a mighty swing. A sickening c***k was heard and the man’s body dropped down on the floor motionless. Gabriel looked back towards the rest of his team consisting of two more angels and found out that they had made short work of the other men who patrolled the ship as well.

He was given this simple task of retrieving the relic from the mortals with the help of his small team. Captain Azazel did say that this would be a small challenge to test his abilities which made Gabriel scoffed. Mortals were hardly any challenge at all, he really wanted himself to prove himself in a battle filled with worthy foes, not fetch some relic in the hand of mortals.

Calling his team into a silent regroup, the group made their way deeper into the ship. The mortal must have stored the relic where it could be best protected. But finding the said place was proving to be quite tedious for they couldn’t sense any form of aura from the relic. Gabriel was sure that they had tracked the relic in same ship and since they couldn’t sense it, the mortals must have somehow masked its presence. Mortals were sometimes crafty, Gabriel had to admit but it didn’t matter. They will tear the ship apart it they have to.

When the group of angels were about to turn around the hallway, they didn’t even realize until it was too late that they ran into a lone patrol. Both the party was speechless for a while but the angels could feel something about this man was different. As if coming back to his senses, the man tried to alert the entire ship, “Intruder!” but an angel beat it to him and attacked. The angel had expected the mortal to be startled by the sudden attack, not for the man to pull out a foldable sword from his waist and defect the attack. The angel was stunned as the man was engulfed in a dark mist and when it cleared, the man now stood adorning demonic armour in all its glory, “Angel scum..” he growled and attacked. The angel was too surprised to react in time as the demonic sword cut through the side of his cuirass and pierced his chest. Mortal weapon was little to non effective on immortal but an immortal forged weapon such as the one wielded by the newly reviled demon was lethal to all kind of immortals. The attack was enough to break the very essence which held his existence. The pain was unimaginable and slowly, the angel’s body darkened and faded away like ashes in wind, signalling his demise.

Seeing their comrade was no more, Gabriel and the remaining Angel’s surprise turned into rage, “Demon filth!” they growled before charging to attack.

Azazel was getting impatient. It had been very long since those whelps had been gone to retrieve the relic and It was shameful that immortals like them were having problems dealing with a bunch of weak mortals. It was suppose to be a simple job. One bloody simple job. He would have ran out of patients if it wasn’t for his left arm guard started to glow in green light, signalling that the infiltration team was trying to contact him. He brought his arm towards his face and a green orb floated over his arm.

He growled and activated the device, “Any news?”

From the other side of the orb came a desperate voice of Gabriel, “Captain we have got a situation…” Azazel scoffed at this, not believing how some mortals could be a problem, “Demons captain. Confirmed Demonic presence…” this made Azazel and the others halt, “We just took one down but had one casualty as well. There might be more and we cannot proceed without aid what are my orders?”

This really was serious. Demons were no joke and the whelps were lucky that they didn’t get killed so fast. Never had Azazel expected that demons would escape inferno without their knowledge. A part of him wanted to believe that the youngling was lying but his gut told him otherwise.

“Sir?” –Gabriel asked again.

Azazel shook his head and spoke, “Get out of there kid and regroup with the rest. We are storming the ship.”

He cut off the link and looked back at his men consisting of at least twenty fine Angelic warriors. If this report was true then they will need every able body they had. A blood thirsty grin adorned his face, slaughtering demons was what he loved after all.

                                                                                         ---X---

Lucifer lay down heavily on the bed in the chamber they had been given to stay during their time in the ship. He rubbed his sour eyes thinking about his conversation with the demons a while ago.

(Flashback)

“No.”

“What?” muttered The Captain.

“I said no.” stated Lucifer.

“With all due respect Late General…..Why not think this through?” insisted the old demon.

Lucifer sighed, “My decision is certain, Old one. I will not join your ranks or that of angels. That is a life I have left eons ago and don’t have the intention of joining anytime soon. Or ever.”

William furrowed brow and rubbed his hands gingerly –“But Late General, we need your help. Having the most oldest and strongest of the immortals as ally will boost our moral a thousand folds, the angels will be  crippled…….You will have everything you once had. Fame. Respect. A place to belong…”

Lucifer narrowed his eyes, “You mistake the things I had with the things I want Captain.”

It was then Tor made his presence known, “It was you who locked us in the Inferno in the first place, and now since you know of our escape, we cannot exactly let you go away.”

“You’re gonna kill me?” asked Lucifer asked with a hint of humour.

Tor growled at this, “And your little friend here too.” Glancing at the red head who was still silent.

Lucifer was now giving a full glare at the demon brawler and spoke lowly, “Touch her. I dare you pup.”

Tor hissed back, “Bring it on,  Old man.”

They were about to come to blows but Rose came in between them and calmed them both. Tor grumbled and back away with the others. The masked demoness then turned to Lucifer and said respectfully, “Lord Lucifer…” making him look at her.

She bowed and spoke, “Forgive us for asking you to help us and truthfully we have no say in your decision but please…..At least think this through.” She gestured her comrades, “We are desperate. Desperate in a mission that seems to give nothing but failure. Desperate to get justice for the imprisonment of our kind for a crime we had not committed, in our own home. Desperate to cling to any hope we can get in the sea of despair.” Slowly she raises her head and looked Lucifer in the eyes. “You are that hope…….You are Lucifer the Light Bringer. The eldest, the wisest. The strongest.…”

Lucifer stood silent as Rose took a deep breath, “I have heard stories of your deeds, how you helped the Supremes shape the two parallels, how you help shape the very being of what we all are. How it was you who was the first to raise arms against the Brutums and taught others to defend and fight back …..Every demon admired you. Every angel strived to be like you…” she again took a few breaths before her emotions got the best of her and spoke again softly, “ Our kind is in peril, we need someone to show was the path. We need someone to lead us through this time of great sorrow. We need you……Will you…forsake us?”

Lucifer looked into Rose’s ruby red eyes. Filled with desperation yet were firm. The hope in her eyes was unmistakable and seemed to barely able hold back emotions. He averted his eyes and sighed. He knew of what she talked about. It was true, what he once was. It amused him that the new generations still knew about him. Maybe curse his name but to find someone who still believed in him was amusing to say the least. He chuckled. Then out came a dry laugh. A hollow laugh, “You still believe in all that?”

This made Rose falter, Lucifer again looked back at her and said, “Look at me and tell me…Do I look like what you say I am?” she did. His eyes, they looked tired. There was no fire in them, no hope that she wanted to see, he looked hollow. Lucifer looked down with a bitter smile as he unfolded his wing from his back. His golden ethereal wing, yet it looked tattered and the glow seemed dull. Very unlike the description of angels they all had came to read and hear about. “I’m not what I once was. Time has taken a toll on me…even if I am an immortal.” He dispersed his wing and traced his scar, “Casted out from home, cursed to wander the mortal parallel for eternity. With nowhere to belong or go. Lucifer the Morning Star died bearing the mark of disgrace when I was exiled. All that remains is Lucifer Desmus…” He looked at the captain, “I know I was amongst the ones who sealed your kind. But I was following orders..As you are now. Now I am relived of my duty and I am tired. My obligation now is else were.” Lucifer looked upon Luna’s silent figure.

Captain understood what Lucifer meant and glanced at Luna at this. But the demons were not satisfied by his reason. Especially Tor who muttered, “Tired he is. How convenient.”

Rose lowered her gaze as she stood upright, her attempt to persuade the Late General failed. Now it was up to the Captain to decide. William rubbed his eyes and asked, “You know we cannot just let you go right?”

Lucifer nodded, “Being a soldier means to do what it means to be done. I will respect that. But as a friend, I will not let harm to fall to Luna as long as I live and I hope that you’ll respect that.” William nodded at this with a small smile, the old general still had fight in him.

“And if we let you go?” he asked, shocking everyone in the room, even Lucifer. But he composed himself and said sincerely, “Then you have my word that your secret shall not be passed on to anyone…And we will probably never meet again.”

William added, “But even if you decided to not pick side, the war will start over once the gates of inferno is opened. Every world will be a part of it. No place of existence will be safe and you’ll be dragged into it as well.”

Lucifer laughed at this, “That remains to be seen…” William smiled at this for he could see that there was still ambers of the fire present in his being that was waiting to be rekindled. He nodded to himself –“Very well, Late General. We shall drop you at the nearest city not far from our current position.” This caused almost everyone to yell out in protest.

Lucifer was surprised as well, trying to decipher the hidden motive in the Captain’s words instead of just ‘kindness of heart’. But he found none of it so he sincerely said with a nod –“I’ll be in your debt friend.”

(End flash back)

Lucifer was glad that the talk had worked out at last. It was intense but ultimately they were lucky that they will be getting out of there alive. But the other demons were not so thrilled about the idea. And there was another matter which he has to take care of, “I know you’re not asleep little lady.”

He turned to his side and found Luna lay on the other side of the bed with her back towards him. “Kid, say something.” He understands that she was in shock but her outright ignoring him was starting to annoy him. He stood up and went over the other side of the bed. He kneeled to reach her level but Luna again turned the other side. Controlling himself, he said or rather pleaded, “Luna ,,”

She perked up a bit but settled down again and spoke again, “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

As he had expected; she was still mad about the whole Brutum thing. But now since she knew, he would not hold the truth anymore. So he answered truthfully, “Never had to.”

“So you just lied to me.”

“I never lied. Just never told the truth.”

“You always have an excuse don’t you.” Growled Luna raising her voice. Lucifer frowned.

“Kid, clam down…”

“HOW CAN I CALM DOWN MISTER LUCIFER DESMUS!” roared Luna, Fire shooting off her back and forming a fiery wing, “YOU NEVER MENTIONED WHAT YOU WERE!”

“Luna…” he said lowly as the fire was now on her arms as well.

“OR WHAT I WAS?”

“Luna.” The fire was getting more intense and where her clothes not fire proof, they would have burnt off till now.

“WHY? BECAUSE I’M SOME KIND OF MONSTER!”

“LUNA!”  Lucifer said sharply holding her shoulder. She seemed to have come to her senses and saw that her fire had burned the bed, even the room had scorch marks all over. And what was worst, Lucifer’s hands had burns too. Luna was shocked at what she had done, shocked that she hurt Luci. Her shock turned into despair as she scooted towards the wall, curled up into a ball and wept murmuring, “I am a monster.”  

Lucifer looked at her with worry and pity. The burns didn’t truly damage him but it did affected Luna deeply. He sighed and walked over her. Luna flinched as he knelt down, “Please go away, I’m a monster.” She said weakly. Lucifer but wrapped his arms around her, surprising her. She weakly tried to push him away, “What are you doing?”

“Giving you a taste of your own medicine.” Came the reply. Luna was confused at first but then it hit her. Whenever Lucifer was unhappy, broody or somewhat sad, Luna would hug him, seeing as most mortals would do that to comfort each other. Lucifer would resist but ultimately let her do whatever she was doing. Luna smiled at this but it disappeared, “Let go.”

“No” Lucifer replied bluntly.

 “Why?”

“Because you are acting not like yourself.”

Luna laughed dryly at this making Lucifer frown, “I just learned I am a member of a race of monsters who feed on innocents, like that big hound. How am I supposed to act?”

Lucifer shrugged, “Don’t know Kid. Maybe not broody, that’s my job.”

“I’m Serious!” yelled Luna angrily.

“So am I.” Luna’s face became red with anger and she pounded of him, she started beating Lucifer’s shoulder yelling, “i***t!” over and over. Lucifer merely raised a brow.

After several moments she was exhausted and couldn’t do it anymore and she sulked back on the wall. Lucifer stayed silent as Luna spoke, “You saw him Luci, how he killed that man. How he was so happy to kill that man…..and I am one of them…..What if I?”

“Yah...So what?” he said bluntly, making Luna shocked as well as hurt. But Lucifer carried on, “So what if you are a Brutum , a Demon an angel or a mortal… You are still Luna.” Making her pause.

Lucifer sat down beside her and looked up at the ceiling and spoke again, “The same Luna who makes me do jobs for food, who eats my shares,…..who drags me to explore, who gives me a heart attack by going off alone in crowd…the thing is…Why should it matter?” Luna Looked at Lucifer with shell shocked face, “Yes I didn’t tell you that you are a Brutum but that doesn’t change who you are, you are not Luna Desmus because you are Luna the Brutum. You are Luna Desmus because you are you….”

Luna looked down and said softly, “But They said..”

“Who on the entire bloody existence are ‘THEY’? That pup Tor? Kid is just grumpy because I kicked his ass real hard. And why should their opinion even matter.” Lucifer shook his head and laughed, “and what if you’re a Brutum. You sticked with me for millenniums and I didn’t gave a s**t. Why should I do now?” He turned towards her, “and lastly Luna, I am your friend. Doesn’t matter what you are or where you are, we stick together. Because we are a team aren’t we? He who messes with us has to deal with both of us.” He gave his hand towards her with a smile.

Luna was overwhelmed. Lucifer’s world hit her, they were a team. They were friends. How stupid of her to let those word get to her. She looked at Lucifer’s hand and his small smile. It radiated acceptance and affection. Enough to bring tears back in her eyes, yet these weren’t tears of sorrow, but tears of happiness. Lucifer frowned, fearing weather he said the wrong words but turns out he didn’t. Instead of taking his hand, Luna jumped on him and hugged him with all her being, while sobbing in his chest –“I’m sorry, I was so…”

“It’s okay, Kid.” Said an amused Lucifer as he patted Luna’s head. She giggled and snuggled closer. –“Now that’s the Fire head I know…Mind the tears tough, you’ll ruin my coat.”

“Stupid old man…I hate you.”

“Back at you kid.” They both laughed at this.

Staying like this in each other’s arms filled with laughter was a very soothing. The laughter died down and a peaceful silence followed.

Then Luna  spoke, “Luci?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you.” Luna said with a very beautiful smile. Lucifer simply nodded back.

They would have exchanged more words was it not for the entire ship start shaking with a huge BOOM!.......................................