Читать книгу GATES OF DIVINITY - TOI BLASIER - Страница 14

In the depths of the eternal abyss, a celestial resident has been sentenced to a thousand years in the bowels of the bottomless pit. This being’s act of heresy has condemned him for a millennium. Each moment spent there has felt like an eternity within itself. But those never-ending moments afforded this angel the opportunity to reflect on past mistakes and conceive a new plan. A plan that he would replay over in his mind several times to project any potential flaws that would pose a threat to another failure and preventing it from being executed to perfection. Over the thousand years of dwelling in the infinite darkness, the bitter expression on his face remained and twisted his sharp features. His strong jawline always in tension as he constantly gnashed his teeth in anguish and his eyes gleamed gold as the morning star itself. Even in the pitch darkness, his eyes glowed with anger and animosity fueled with his ambitions of revenge. His long hair was as black as the darkness that surrounded him. His rage swept through every fiber of his being like a plowshare harvesting the lives of the first-born sons of Egypt during his ages long banishment. Time was all he had, and he was determined to use it to ensure that the past defeat did not repeat itself and victory would be his.

Lucifer has used this time to embrace his hatred for being exiled due to his overzealous ambition to forego God. His only form of fellowship at his disposal were The Scourge. The nigh-infinite ancient spirits that have dwelled in the bottomless pit from the time before time. They were God’s first attempt at creation. The intention of a perfect world for its perfect inhabitants. Unfortunately, perfection is unattainable, and God’s initial plan of perfection had unforeseen consequences. Without equal parts of good and evil, the universe was off-balance, and the flow of nature disrupted. That caused his original creation to twist and distort, converting it to pure chaos. The known world was cast into darkness and evil consumed the fabric of reality. God was then forced to wipe the slate clean, divesting the evil souls from their corporal bodies to the bottomless pit. Their timeless sentence caused them to evolve into a grander malevolence. The pit and their existence within it, caused their hunger to be ravenous and insatiable. Their indiscriminate malignance knows no bounds. Lucifer has used his damnation to become in tune with The Scourge so that he may manipulate them to harness their raw, unadulterated chaos to his will. When he speaks into the void it is as if he is talking to himself but whispers upon whispers fill his ears ad nauseum. The voices are inaudible; however, Lucifer hears and feels them all. Knowing of Lucifer’s impending freedom, The Scourge propositioned him. The invaluable knowledge they possessed from their timeless existence was offered to Lucifer in exchange for their release. And with that, their undying loyalty to Lucifer for all of time. At first, he was slightly apprehensive, but after a moment’s thought it all became clear to him. Lucifer knows that after his previous failure and subsequent punishment for a millennium that this may be his one and only chance to fulfill his destiny. A boom fills the void around him and causes The Scourge to shriek and shudder away from Lucifer. He knew that sound could be only one thing; The Lord of the Pit speaking the word that will end his imprisonment. Abaddon is the sole possessor of the unknown word that has been held in the utmost secrecy. It is the only method from which anyone can be brought forth from the pit. "My time has finally come" Lucifer thinks to himself as a wave of elation washes over him as his gaunt form rose from the abyss like a cadaver emerging from a tar pit. Lucifer steps into the majestic cave of Abaddon’s station, which is populated by rivers of magma and carpeted by stalagmites and stalactites. Large pillars of rock along the cavernous walls were covered in shadows and a red glow permeated by magma flowing through.

Finally face to face with his warden, Lucifer is delighted, for this has been a long time coming. Abaddon towers over Lucifer like the Sun to an ant. His frame takes up much of the space in the large cavern causing him to hunch over. Despite being an angel of Heaven, Abaddon’s physical appearance has gone through many changes and has adapted to Hell’s harsh environment, taking on a more menacing and demonic appearance. His head had taken on the appearance of an ovis skull with leathery hide for skin and his eyes were severely sunken in and well concealed from his prominent brow. Upon closer inspection, one would notice that his eyes were as black as the abyss he guarded.

Lucifer knelt before him, beaten, broken, and emaciated. "Lord Abaddon, the duration of my punishment has truly humbled me. I am in awe of your power and control." Lucifer confesses his admiration and lessons learned from his isolation in the infinite darkness, while fully aware of the presence of a familiar face lurking in the shadows nearby. A face that belonged to a female who was as beautiful as she was deadly. Her name alone was enough to inspire fear amongst the bravest of any being. Her raven black hair flowed past her shoulders and her facial features were delicate and fierce. Her skin was flawless and appeared delicate and fair. Her gaze was menacing and unflinching despite the soft green color of her eyes. There was no mistaking the first woman of creation, or as many would come to know her as the mother of demons.

Abaddon, having known Lucifer for ages, senses something might be amiss with this uncharacteristic gesture from the father of lies. Abaddon’s divinity prevents him from striking down unjustly, but he knows that his sense of being taken a fool by Lucifer could be accurate. Abaddon spitefully replies to Lucifer "You have been my favorite prisoner to have ever graced my pit. A shame that the thousand years have passed so quickly. I would have enjoyed torturing you in the nullity of my pit." Lucifer, maintains his composure from Abaddon's perceived conceit and reacts with false humility, "Lord Abaddon, I have learned many things in my desolate chiliastic existence." "Oh, and what may these things be, whelp?" Abaddon says with egotistical delight. Lucifer attempts to clear his throat and answers, but baits Abaddon with a softly spoken murmur. "Speak up boy!" Abaddon demands as he leans in closer as his much larger physique nearly eclipses Lucifer. Abaddon leans in inches away from him to hear one word uttered from Lucifer’s lips "... Patience."

Lucifer opens his right hand with his claw-like fingernails pointing forth and lunges towards Abaddon's massive throat. Lucifer's arm is caught midair by the Lord of the Pit. "You must think me foolish to not expect an attempt to topple me." Abaddon laughs at this situation that Lucifer has seemingly got himself into. However, the mysterious figure lying in wait turns out to be none other than Lilith. A small smirk takes form on Lucifer's face, unbeknownst to Abaddon. As Abaddon is distracted by Lilith's sudden appearance, Lucifer takes this small window of opportunity and double strikes the temples of Abaddon with his wings. With the pit lord discombobulated and his grip on Lucifer’s arm relinquished, Lucifer notices a stalactite above him. Using his wing, he uppercuts Abaddon with the might of a thousand years of isolation into his jaw. The force from Lucifer’s wing drives Abaddon upwards. Familiar with the layout of his pit and in-depth knowledge of the dangerous stalactites above, Abaddon attempts to swiftly avoid being impaled. He was not fast enough and fails as he is driven into a rocky spike through the base of his neck in the back. A howl of pain roared from Abaddon and a stream of blood and viscera poured from the wound. A large splash landed on Lucifer that saturates his face and upper torso. He did not mind the mess as he reveled in Abaddon’s pain and suffering. Basking in the moment and enjoying the gore oozing from Abaddon, Lilith unshoulders a chain and lassos it around Abaddon’s neck to allow Lucifer to grab the other end. Abaddon instinctively clutches to his neck when he feels the chain wrap around. With the chain firmly in their grasps, Lilith swings around and joins Lucifer’s side and the duo yanks Abaddon down from the stalactite. With his attention on the chain strangling his neck, Abaddon could not stop the inevitable impalement on the stalagmite awaiting him below. As Abaddon lands and impacts the ground, a disgusting, juicy crunch is heard as a louder and guttural howl of pain echoes the caves as blood spurts out in a fountain-like fashion covering Lucifer’s legs and wing tips. Abaddon flails his wings and arms wildly, destroying rock pillars nearby. Stone and rubble began to fall around them, a large piece of rock nearly struck Lilith. “He’s going to bring this whole place down around us. We must move now!” Lilith cried out to Lucifer. The scene was all crimson and blood. But Lucifer was not yet satisfied. He nods to Lilith. No words are exchanged but the request was received. She understood what Lucifer was planning. Pulling their ends of the chain over their respective shoulders, they proceeded to tug Abaddon as hard and quickly away from the falling debris. Pulling Abaddon while still firmly impaled on the stalagmite, causes them to fully dissect Abaddon from his lower sternum through his groin. This act lead to Abaddon’s innards pouring out like a flashflood of gore. His guts wriggled and writhed around the ground while his blood poured across the cave surfaces and into the lava river, sizzling into the magma with a nasty hiss. Barely holding onto life, Abaddon is struggling to survive, letting out gurgles of blood from his mouth. Lucifer can see that the time to strike is now. Lilith twists her body into a rapturous dance behind Abaddon as Lucifer moves in closer. Lucifer, covered in the visceral liquid that once was flowing though the veins of Abaddon, slowly approaches his former overseer and snatches his tongue from his mouth. Even if he wanted to defend himself, Abaddon’s body being vivificated left him all but defenseless to Lucifer. With him holding his tongue out, Lilith unsheathes one of her daggers and slices it like a hot knife through butter. "I want you to be alive for all this. I want you to know that despite all your centuries of dominion over this pit that it was I that ended it all. And this, oh mighty Lord, is only the beginning." Lilith is in reverence of what is about to happen. In this moment, Lucifer concentrates his focus on Abaddon and absorbs the last of The Lord of The Pit’s angelic light, partially restoring him to his former self. Seeing that her love, Lucifer, starting to become what he once was, Lilith was overjoyed to hand Abaddon’s tongue to him. Lucifer is the first to ever see the word tattooed on Abaddon's tongue. The word spoken with that very tongue is the only means of access to opening the pit and releasing The Scourge. Lucifer then proceeds to shove as much of Abaddon's tongue into his own mouth and speaks the word; the pit is opened. Thick, billowy smoke pours out as The Scourge form a cloud of death and annihilation, escape the void. "Your feast is prepared, my friends." Lucifer directs them to the former Lord of the Pit. Barely a face here and there are made out in this vapor of destruction, but they swarm Abaddon with all their force of nature. Gnawing, biting, and chewing at his flesh. The former dwellers of the void consume Abaddon as Lucifer and Lilith look on in delight, but Lucifer knows that this is only a footstep in his grand plan for revenge on Heaven and all those who put him to suffer for one thousand years.