Lilith

Finally! I had found him. After all those years, I would finally get some answers. Or kill him… we’d have to see how it was going to go. Either way, it’d be fun. At least for me. And well deserved, I had scoured the wide verse for the last years, worked my juicy, immortal butt off only to run into one dead end after the other. Ultimately, it had been dumb luck. The forsaken planet he was on was guarded in more ways than the gates to the Silver City. And those were sealed tighter than the panties of a Vestal Virgin.

Come to think of it, now that I had spotted the wards, I could hardly believe that no one else had made the connection. The demonic seals, fine, there was always one scheme or the other going on and who liked the family to interfere, after all? Especially the feathered kind. They just couldn’t relax, could they? Good, evil, right, wrong, blah… It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the first thing one of my kind would do, when they arrived on a planet, was to make sure that no angel would just fly by and tear down years, decades, aeons of good, honest work. That was just plain nasty. And inconsiderate.

But a planet warded against demons? That was new. Well, not entirely, but at least interesting. So… why had nobody bothered to take a closer look? Oh, right, because they couldn’t. I wouldn’t have found the shit hole of a planet myself if I hadn’t stumble across his scent in the void.

That sweet fragrance of power that had driven me nuts ever since I had first smelled it during the last little skirmish. That had been entertaining. Angels and demons tearing at each others throats for nothing. Quite the accomplishment, but doomed from the very beginning. There had been too much at stake… the only proper way to instigate a genocide was for shits and giggles, everything else was bound to go south. When you wanted to accomplish something, anything at all, you couldn’t win. Only true and utter chaos could prevail. Ripping out his throat had been fun, nonetheless, but in hindsight, it might not have been my greatest moment.

But how should I have known? All I had ever wanted was a little peace and quiet to raise an army or two and make them fight, or tinker with a new curse that could be unleashed onto the mortal realms, or simply fuck my way through history… but no, here I was, the noose around my neck tightening and running after an angel. And the best part? I couldn’t snap my fingers and be done with it, those useless, infamous seals made sure of it.

Anyways, ramblings aside, once I had picked up the trail, I had followed it through most parts of the known regions until I had hit another wall. Quite literally. My essence had recoiled, a transcendent web barring my entrance. I had been ready to call it a day and maybe vent my frustration on one civilisation or the other, but then, something had changed.

At first, it hadn’t been much. A minuscule rush of transcendent energy on the other side, not enough to break the seal, but more than enough to hold my interest. And so, I had taken out my frustration the only way I could: I had created a minuscule thunderstorm, a puny thing, but I couldn’t get more energy past those damned wards, on the other side of the barrier and set it on Lucifer’s tail. And then, I had waited, hovering in space like an overgrown bat, lurking, watching, until…

An eruption of sorts had stirred up the mana on the planet. Only briefly and far from the magnitude I would have expected if Lucifer had truly lost it, but still, the seals, which had partly been tied to the web of energy within the planet had… hiccoughed. A minor glitch, a small window, but since I was already there, I had managed to slip through. And once I had been on the other side…

At first, I had been tempted to simply tear down the wards and see what would have happened but unfortunately, I had broken my first rule. I was involved, I had something to lose and I couldn’t risk it. Sure, turning that planet into another immortal battlefield sounded like fun, but I wasn’t very keen on getting my own ass roasted in the crossfire. Plus, from the looks of it, there were already more immortals here than I had bargained for. And while I didn’t care much for Aurora or Mephisto, they could both go and stick their heads into a black hole for all I cared, I wasn’t going to cross Amazeroth. That dude was scary, and not in the good, shivers are running down my spine kind of way. No, sir, he was creepy, kind of like an angel at a goth party. He simply didn’t belong. Oh well, I didn’t intend to get in his way, so there shouldn’t be a reason for him to go after me, right?

But then again, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that he had his own plans cooking and me killing Lucifer might directly catapult me into his crosshairs, a place I didn’t want to be, ever. Maybe I should actually be a bit more careful for once, get some information, wheedle my way into an interesting position and plan from there. Yeah, right. I might just as well throw myself into a star. That’d be better than dying of boredom any day of the week. I’d just pay Lucifer a visit and in case things escalated, I’d buy Amazeroth some chocolate and an apology card. Nobody could stay mad, if they were bribed with chocolate, after all. That’d work for sure. Better yet, if push came to shove I could still smash the seals and hope that those corrupted… things who were chasing me would take their time turning this planet into a lifeless wasteland and I’d be on my merry way, with a decent head start.

With a solid plan in mind, I quickly spread my awareness over the lands below, taking care to stay well away from where I sensed Amazeroth. Which wasn’t that hard, considering the immortals I was looking for were on the other side of the world.

Alright, a couple of islands, a few underpowered mages, no civilisation to speak of… Damn it, calling that place stuck in the Dark Ages would have been a compliment. During those times, they at least had known how to set up a proper witch hunt or eradicate a few towns. But here, everything was rather peaceful. Something I’d have to change, if I had the time. Strive was a necessary part of life and I’d make sure there’d be a chance for growth. Or devastation, both were just fine with me. It was always exciting to watch.

Ooh, vampires. I had always loved those. They were like little robots, always running around in circles. One of the few curses I had concocted that had actually turned out marvellously. Briefly I wondered how they had come here, but truth be told, I didn’t really care. Not knowing was always half the fun. Hum, there was Aurora, the self righteous bitch and Mephisto. I shouldn’t have been surprised, the both of them had made their allegiance rather clear when the demon had saved Lucifer back in the day and the angel… oh well, at least the both of them wouldn’t pose a threat. The girl was still stuck somewhere in the middle of her development and Mephisto hadn’t managed to reclaim his core, from the looks of it. As it was, I could probably kill them with a thought and disperse their ashes through the cosmos, without anyone being the wiser.

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A cute idea and something to take my edge off, but… I might need some leverage. Unfortunately I couldn’t just take what I wanted from Lucifer and be done with it, breaking into his mind was impossible, as far as I knew, and I needed a way to make him spill the beans. Plucking Aurora’s feathers before his eyes might be a good start. Better to leave them alive, at least for now. I could still take their heads further down the line. Not that I truly wanted them dead, as in gone, but having them respawn somewhere else and be forced to claw their way back might be entertaining. Desperation and futile anger were always delicious.

Right, I should better get moving. The sooner I was done, the sooner I’d be able to do something productive, like founding a new religion dedicated to eternal darkness or maybe make the dead rise in one kingdom or the other. I’d have to see what was going to catch my fancy. But first things first, where was that pain in the ass of an angel. It was simply unfair that he was hidden from even my scrying, but the traces of his last spell should be easy enough to follow.

There. Now, I was going to meet the new neighbours. I tweaked my physical shell and rushed through the ether like black lightening, arriving on the remote island not a moment later. This close I even smelled his scent, but it was somewhat different. Lighter… younger? I couldn’t say for sure.

With a thought, I blocked the stream of energy around the island. It would take another immortal to get access now and some privacy was surely going to be needed. While my will took hold on the web, I realised that there was almost no mana left in the atmosphere. Probably an after effect of whatever Lucifer had done. It would refill quickly enough, once I released my grip, but for now, the place was going to remain barren.

Just as well, even if a mage was going to use a scrying spell, it would just fizzle out. Unless she could power it with her own energy, but from what I had seen, there were no sorceresses around with that kind of juice. Not without the help of one of the deities I had felt but those relicts were about as active as a dead tree. I wasn’t too worried and in case one of them should interfere… it had been quite a while since I had feasted upon divine essence. A hearty snack never went amiss.

I felt several life forms on the island, but they were deeply asleep. And somewhere below my feet, the lingering traces of unleashed, transcendent energies still tickled my nose. That’s where I had to go. Another dilation of my awareness, a short burst of power and I materialised in an almost pitch black room, the remains of a shattered portal at the far end. A corpse and a still squirming girl cluttered the floor but my focus immediately snapped to the angel I had come here for. My flames poured forth, pillars of hell fire illuminating the beast kin girl in front of me, who was standing in a crater of purest, silvery glass.

He… she wasn’t in a bad shape, considering how everything else down here had fared and I had to admit, her new skin didn’t look bad on her, not at all. It peeved me to no end, but she might haven been even prettier than my true from, something I hadn’t expected. You might call me vain, but that was just adding insult to injury, form my perspective. Not only was she apparently unafraid, her silver eyes locking on mine with an intensity that told me exactly whom I was facing. She stood there, naked as a slug, didn’t even flinch when I appeared and had the audacity to smile at me. At least it was a sad smile, or so I hoped. But terror, amazement or grovelling? Siltch, Nada. She mostly looked… tired. Tired and determined. And then she bowed form the waist.

“Hi. I’m Cassy. Are you here to kill me?” What was I even supposed to reply to that? Hi, I’m your worst nightmare wouldn’t quite cut it. Somehow I had been looking forward to some sort of grand entrance, a true immortal finally appearing, thunder, lightning, maybe a minor earthquake. Awe and fear in her eyes as she glimpse my true form… But her nonchalance had taken the wind out of my sails. Now, that would just be cheap. I even extinguished most of the fires I had conjured.

“Ahem, I’m Lilith. Depends. I might have been, but now it would be petty, I think.”

“Can’t say that I’m sorry,” she mouthed under her breath.

“Probability not. No, I don’t think I will. Already tried that, wasn’t very satisfying, seeing as you’re still alive.” By the deep abyss, she was young. It must have taken her soul forever to reach this place. It had been far over 25 years since she had died. And that… child wasn’t yet 10. But she was unbelievably well developed, for her age. Not yet grown, but he powers were already stirring.

“I…fuck, I wanted to ask you a couple of questions, but now I’m not even sure if you know the answers, yet. How far down the line are you? Do you even know who you are?” She shrugged.

“Partly. If I can, I’ll try to tell you what you want to know, but I can’t promise.”

“Just like that? No resistance?” That smile again.

“What for? I guess you came here, fully prepared to coerce me. I freely admit, that won’t be very difficult and I’m not really keen on seeing you try.” She moved a step closer and my eyes dropped down to her chest, where a strange tattoo covered parts of her alabaster skin. I knew that thing, I had seen it before. Oh… Plucking Aurora’s feathers had been the right idea. Maybe I’d do so anyways, now that I knew what length she’d go to at the mere chance it might happen. Those two… I’d never understand them. But at least, this was going to be easy. Or it would be, if she remembered.

To get back a little steam, I quickly matched my appearance to hers, my body changing into an exact copy of hers, except for the eyes and tails. The eyes I couldn’t replicate and since I had turned them black, I thought I just as well might match the shade of my fur and exaggerate the curves, a little. My efforts got me a frown, at least. Not exactly much, but a start. Maybe if I changed into Aurora’s current form… nah, mirrors had always been the best distraction.

“You’re wiser than you were before,” I said, my voice a perfect copy of hers. I thought I even managed to mimic her intonation. “Let’s cut to the chase. Do you know why some of our people have changed over the last years? Their powers, their… character?”

“I do. Not everything, but I think I know enough to satisfy your curiosity. I’m just not so sure, if you’ll believe me or not.”

“We’ll have to give it a try, won’t we? I’m not going anywhere and neither are you. You might as well start talking.”

“Sure. But would you mind changing into something else? That’s terribly distracting.”

“Why? Don’t tell me you’re afraid of what you see in a mirror?”

“Aren’t we all? But that’s not it. I’m actually more afraid of what I once was and the way you stand before me… that’s precisely what I’m trying to avoid becoming.”

“Another reason to keep this face. But tell me, why do you fear your past? It’s nothing to be ashamed of. If anything you should be looking forward to it.” She shook her head, the glowing reflections of my remaining flames dancing on her raven black tresses.

“I can imagine why you’d say that. But you actually misunderstood me. I’m not afraid of my past, I fear what might happen if I stopped thinking of what you might do. Because a part of me, the part you so flippantly portrait, really wants to challenge you and find out what you’re made of.”

Her wings suddenly exploded from her back, silvery light flooded from her eyes like a wave and her voice reverberated with an ancient strength. A smile spread across my face. That was more like it! I didn’t mind bullying a kid, but breaking an opponent was so much better.

“Oh yes,” I whispered. “And here I was, dreading you’d be a pushover. But child, that’s a fight you can’t win. I thought you knew.” The silver blue storm of energy around her subsided and the light in her eyes dimmed until it barely smouldered in their fathomless depths.

“I do, which is exactly why I’d like you to change your appearance. Unless you’re looking for a battle, but if you wanted me dead, you would have killed me already. I’m not asking for much and I already told you that there’s no reason to search for ways to hurt me. So… why not do me a favour? Or are you already that fascinated with my looks that you can’t let them go?”

Feisty. And perceptive. Maybe I should have her stuffed, once we were done?