Shutting Its gaze, Lucifer inhaled, and a soft, inner light glowed behind Its alabaster skin.Panicked and desperate, Asheda’s spirit reanimated and tried to claw its way out of Saer’s grasp.The next moment, the chief’s figure disintegrated, vaporizing into thousands of fragments of the same glowing light.
Their maker’s flesh absorbed Chief Asheda’s soul, its brilliance forever extinguished.
The change was subtle, but true.Lucifer shone brighter, more vibrant.Asheda’s essence had vanished.
Saer found the cure.
The crescendo of tension melted away from Saer’s shoulders, and Neyu’s strangling grip relaxed on his wrist.
Lucifer slumped back against the stone wall with a frightening purr, “Bring me more, Saerkhanum.”
A cavern of uncertainty expanded to take the place of success as the breadth of his next task yawned wide.Still, a spark of hope shone below the unease.An opportunity he couldn’t ignore.“Of course, Master, more spirits as that one.I’ll teach the rest of theDaemoenica, we’ll work together—”
Neyu’s hand squeezed on his arm again.
“No.”The fallen angel’s voice still trembled in its interruption.
Asheda’s soul provided a fraction of what Lucifer needed, yet It still said no?He’d asked for too much.Of course Lucifer could see through his desires.
“No, Master?”Caution laced through Saer’s question.
“Bring me any and all.”
Lucifer didn’t refute his desire to work together, but wished for all spirits?Not just ones like Asheda’s?
“Master,” Saer licked his lips, choosing his words carefully, “the boy’s spirit wasn’t sufficient for you.If I bring you more like him—”
Lucifer waved a hand away and laughed for the first time in centuries—a captivating melody.“My First, there’s much I must teach you.”The fallen angel’s icicle eyes lit with an excited fire pushing through millennia of fatigue.“You and your kin will bring me all you can.The ones with the correct energy, I’ll devour immediately.”
Saer’s heart pounded, the sound thudding in his ears.
“And the others, Master?”
“The others, dear child”—Lucifer gestured to the corridors and caverns surrounding—“will suffer until ready for my consumption.”
And so the Hells were born.
9
SaersummonedtheDaemoenicaafter he and Neyu carried Lucifer to sag on Its throne.“Teach them, my Saerkhanum,” he’d been commanded.“And return here when you’re finished.”
Down one of the original corridors, Saer gathered patches of Hellsfire into a conglomerate immolation, a bonfire for the Seven to gather around.Neyu left to gather the rest.
The Twins arrived first and placed six boulders about the flames so they might all sit if so inclined.Only six, because Arek and Alus found an expansive one to share.
Greed and Gluttony lounged on their rocky slab, prodding and muttering under their collective breaths to one another.Arek punched Alus in the shoulder in response to some particular jibe, earning a full-throated, bestial laugh in return.
After so long a separation from his kin, the Twins brought a sense of familial lightheartedness to the rest of theDaemoenicaby virtue of simply being.Saer held back the impulse to chuckle alongside them.
The fresh born Kalia plopped on a seat next, and Errshek beside her after a moment of indecision.Runeak stood near the fire, pushing and pulling on the blaze with her fingertips.
Saer looked at them each in turn, all Seven, gathered together at last.Runeak—Wrath, Arek and Alus—Greed and Gluttony, Errshek—Envy, and finally Kalia—Sloth.
Neyu—Lust—came last, and he watched her every elegant motion as her steps consumed the space between them.
She moved straight towards Pride, and he allowed instinct to take over, extending a clawed hand to his match.The squeezing anticipation in Saer’s chest lightened—even as his heart rate sped up—when she slid her palm over his.No hesitation.
Her nearness settled something within that enticed and terrified him all at once.Energy hummed in the stare they held, and it was Neyu who offered a reassuring and warm growl before turning towards their family.
