Cassandra Pendragon

I groaned and cradled my head in my hands. “Makes sense,” I mumbled through my fingers. “Would you… Do you have to use Sarai’s energy right away?”

“I won’t have that much time, but I surely can wait for a few hours. I assume you’re thinking about your spear and the imprisoned snake?”

“Partly. I’m also wondering how much you could accomplish before you’re going to go under.”

“Nothing major. While the restrictions on magic I mentioned before don’t necessarily apply to transcendent forces, it would still be a gamble, a bad one. I can’t just wish our problems away, if that’s what you’re getting at. Even if we postponed Sarai’s involvement and prepared a few rituals in advance, I’d still be very restricted in what I’m willing to try. And the parlour tricks I am willing to use won’t need any preparation if I’m fuelled up again.”

“Do you have something particular in mind,” Ahri asked and tilted her head to the side.

The demon shrugged in response before he elaborated: “you said you needed money. I can create a refilling chest, I can easily guide and help Cassy with her weapon, I’m thinking about enchanting a few of the dwarven armours as well as the one they’re forging for our princess. I’ll also try to conjure something that can withstand your fires, Ahri. I’d feel much better if I knew the two of you won’t at least simply die because someone shot you in the back, no matter what kind of bolt they use. And, if I still can, I’ll try to creat a pocket dimension for you as well, so you can store your swords somewhere out of the way.” He scratched his chin before he added:

“Come to think of it, there’s a whole list of chores I’d like to get through. I’ll probably also try to seal the last statuette. You can’t use it and the only ones I can come up with who are able to on this world, would probably have rather nefarious intentions to begin with. The risk isn’t worth it on the off chance you might actually use that thing in the future.”

“What about teaching us,” I blurted out. “You said you’d want to make sure we can use our magic. Whom are we supposed to turn to?”

“You don’t need another immortal to teach you. True, it might be more efficient since I know what you are, but in essence, you can learn the same way everyone does. It might be flawed and a very restrictive approach, but especially in the beginning, it won’t make much of a difference. Once you know your way around the basics, you two can take much more away from my guidance anyways. Even the few spells you’ll have to learn to read your new book can easily be taught to you by any mortal. You want to go to the elves, next, don’t you? They’re a magical people and should have rather profound traditions. Even if I’m not awake by the time you leave there, you’ll still have plenty of opportunities to learn form the fey and dragons, further down the road.”

“I’m quite sure we can manage in that regard,” Ahri interjected. “But what are we supposed to do if our family finds us. Sarai is going to head here and the gods only know what Lilith is up to.”

“Honestly,” the demon sighed, “in that case we’re done for anyways. I can provide knowledge but none of us is more than a fly to an immortal right now…” he pointed at Sarai. “Ask her. Ask her what she could do to us, even though she isn’t even here.” We both turned to the angel and to my surprise, she blushed faintly and licked her lips, a nervous gesture I would never have expected.

“He… aside from you Cassy, all I would have to do is concentrate and your hearts would stop. Mephisto’s form I could disperse with a breath, if I so chose and as for you,” she turned to me. “Do you think you’d survive if I encased you in the heart of a star? It doesn’t really matter… what he’s trying to say is this: you’re no match for us, with or without Mephisto’s knowledge. Tricks can only get you so far. You… in the end, you’ll have to trust Amazeroth’s protection to keep you safe until you can stand on your own. Until you’ve reached your maturity.”

“And how long’s that going to take,” I chimed in.

“That’s almost impossible to answer,” Sarai tried to reply before Mephisto interrupted her.

“Forget it, the rules don’t apply to these two. From what I’ve seen, it won’t take long for your core to fully bind with your energies. That is, the next two steps of your development won’t be much different form what you’ve already lived through. But the last transformation, when you fully grow into your power, when you take complete possession of your immortal heritage… that’s different. Controlling the transcendent forces that are slumbering within you… that’s when you cross over the threshold and usually, existence doesn’t take kindly to the awakening of a new power that can be a threat to creation itself. We’ll get to that once it becomes relevant, but to give you something to chew on: should you reach your maturity on this planet, it’d be gone. When I awakened my full potential, I created a new star by accident. And I’m not some anomaly, which you are, even by the standards of our people.” I had become paler with every word he had uttered.

“But… but isn’t the same thing going to happen again when you reforge your core,” I exclaimed. “Maybe it’ll even be worse! That… there’s no way, you’ll kill us all!”

“No, I won’t. Imagine taming a wild beast. Mine is already docile and we’ve know each other for aeons. Yours… like I said, existence… reality itself will try to resist you when you first awaken. I won’t have the same difficulties.”

“Why,” Ahri wanted to know. “I don’t understand the difference.”

“Hmm, let me see if I can find an explanation you can follow. That’s not supposed to be a jibe, you just don’t know enough,” he added when he realised that Ahri wasn’t yet as used to his remarks as I had become. “Our body is what ties us to the world but in the end, the soul defines who and what we are. That’s one of the reasons why the soul is the very last aspect our core binds itself to. But more than that, the soul is what makes us… real. What allows us to be, to interact… to shape reality. Not in a magical way, but it’s what the whole of creation reacts to, what elevates us from being an idolised, complex machine.” He paused and caught himself before he completely went off on a tangent. Hesitantly he continued:

“In the end, the reasons don’t matter that much. It boils down to this: every soul is unique and… Ah, maybe that’s a better metaphor. Remember what Ignus told us about draconic names? That’s pretty much what a soul is, only it doesn’t refer to family or friends within a society but to every last part of existence itself. It’s a record of who and what we are, one that matters. Consequentially, once a soul develops and changes, it doesn’t have to repeat the process. And I still have mine. Let me try it like this: for me, I simply have to dig a new well. The both of you have to first create water in the dessert, while the very sand beneath your feet fights against you.” He studied or distraught expressions before he added:

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“You don’t have to worry about inadvertently destroying your home, though. In contrast to your previous transformations and the two that are still to come, the last step will be one you have to take by yourself. It’ll be a decision, not the result of a dangerous dream. In this regard, at least, you don’t have to be scared. When the time comes, you’ll both be much more powerful than you are now. And I’ll be there to guide you, or even hold your hand, if I have to,” he smirked.

“So will I,” Sarai chirped up and wrapped her arms around Ahri and me. “That is, if I can reach you in time,” she continued more subduedly. “That’s what I’m mostly fretting about.”

“At least we have something resembling a plan,” I said. “But before we do anything, there’s one more thing I want to know. As far as I’ve understood what you’ve told me, the demons were practically thrown out of hell, betrayed by their siblings who’ve probably been corrupted. Which also explains why Lilith was on the run. But what about us, what about the angels? Didn’t anyone speak up when our cousins suddenly brought several of their kin as prisoners into the Silver City? More importantly, why did you have to flee? What’s happening in heaven?” Her grip around us tightened and even though she sounded calm, detached, I felt her shiver while she narrated:

“Cassy… we’re not perfect, far from it. You know that angels and demons have been fighting ever since we first opened our eyes. The First War, the War of the Nine Families, the grudging truce we struck… what do you think happened? All of us, me included, thought Michael to be our saviour, he had protected us from you and then, he managed to bring our eternal enemies to their knees without ever lifting a feather. By the abyss, can you really blame us for trusting him? You know his talents, even those who were hesitant… his honeyed words swayed them as if they were leafs in the wind. In the end, he wanted our promise to follow him, to bow our heads and as much as I’m ashamed to admit it, I would have been willing, if I hadn’t stumbled into the dungeons. I told you before, he was… is taking mortals prisoner, but back then, I believed his lies. They were needed he told us and we didn’t care enough to truly question him. Only when I felt a familiar presence slip through the Silver City and vanish into the dungeons did I bother with taking a closer look…

Sarai, the Lady of Dawn

Breaking into the dungeon had been surprisingly easy, but then again, we had always worried about our prisoners getting out, not someone sneaking in. Only angles were allowed to move freely through the Silver City and none of us would have had the gall or even a reason to break in, after all. There had always been rumours that the dungeon had been breached once, during the First War, but since Lucifer had vanished, there was no one who expected anything comparable to happen in the foreseeable future. No one at all, except…

Our promises were a dangerous thing, binding and eternal. They forged a form of kinship that was the closest we would ever get to real friendship and care. They allowed us to keep track of the people we had bound ourselves to. Maybe it had been chance, luck, or even fate that had led me to this very moment, but when I had felt the fires of someone I had promised to watch over vanish into the depth of despair our dungeons had become, I hadn’t had much of a choice. I dreaded what I might find down there, the lies and excuses I had built up for myself and my siblings might crumble the very moment I was willing to open my eyes and then… I might just come to realise what I had done, what we all had done.

Like the seeds of a poisonous plant, my doubts had begun growing the very moment I had allowed myself to accept a simple truth: his bid for supremacy had devoured every last shred of decency Michael ever had. If he was willing to tread on the corpses of beings his siblings considered sacrosanct, there was no telling how far he was willing to go, how far he had gone.

And if I had followed a rabid butcher blindly, I wasn’t any better. Damn it all to the chasm and back, I never should have allowed my pride to make my decisions, I should never have believed the truth to be simple. I should never have trusted in a tale that pinned the fault for war on a single pair of wings. But alas, I had done it, I had eagerly accepted Lucifer’s guilt as it was so much easier to deal with than the alternative. And now, I might come to realise that I had not only betrayed him, but had also helped laying the foundation for a new cosmos, one where angels, or rather one angel, reigned supreme to do as he pleased.

I felt my lips curl into a self deprecating grin when I remembered that it hadn’t even taken a century for hell to fall after Lucifer had been vanquished and Aurora had vanished. A balance that had kept creation alive and… free had crumbled in less time than it had taken me to deal with the loss of people I had considered… honourable. The worst part: I was still hoping that I might find an explanation once I got to the dungeons, that I might find something that would allow me to hold on to what I had believed for a while longer but the further I came, the more I was forced to realise that I was clinging to a fool’s hope, to something that would never come to pass.

The first hint I got was the sheer size of the place. In the past, we had had a few cells, each and every single one warded and guarded to ensure we could effectively imprison immortals. There had been no one else we had even deemed worthy of incarcerating, after all. Be it a wayward angel who had been forced to cool his wings for a few centuries or a demon we had picked up by chance or design, taking them out without triggering their reincarnation had been the sole purpose of the dungeon. No mortal had ever been supposed to even come to the Silver City, never mind the prison. But now…

The upper floor was still untouched, white marble with silver doors behind which the prisoners from hell still existed, confined and powerless. The transcendent energies imbued into the stones and metal made me shiver and my hair rose statically, a fiery halo to accompany my smouldering wings. For the fraction of a second I toyed with the idea of opening the cells, but I wasn’t yet prepared to commit treason even though I had an inkling feeling that I’d come to regret my hesitation soon enough. Also, I’d probably turn into slag the moment I touched a door and it wasn’t why I had made my way here in the first place. My goal was further down the corridor. An inconspicuous, black door that hadn’t been here when I had last come to visit.

I squared my shoulders and slowly walked down the corridor, carefully suppressing my presence to ensure I wouldn’t be disturbed. The wards that had been placed on the black gateway were more of a nuisance than an obstacle, tailored as they were to mortal powers. With a touch of my mind I pushed past and carefully descended the long staircase on the other side.

The smell of blood and disease, of pain and humiliation was thick around me and the further I got, the stronger it became, fuelling my doubts. I was already picturing atrocities I couldn’t have imagined ever taking place in my home, but when I finally glided down the last steps and shouldered open a massive obsidian door, I had to admit that reality was even worse.

Before I was forced to move, my enhanced perception took in every detail of the torture chamber I had stumbled into. Two angels, Ezekiel and Thanatos, stood in the middle of the room, their wings unfurled. Between them, on a rack crackling with displaced energy, a bloody, quivering lump of flesh and bones wailed in agony. They tore into him… her, I couldn’t tell, with reckless abandon, their hands elongated into deadly claws, stained with gore and clumps of flesh. All around the circular room, forged cages contained a myriad of different mortals, their eyes glazed over, whether form fear, desperation or pain I couldn’t tell. Not two of them were of the same race and while they were forced to watch one of their own being expertly dissected before them, I felt the strands of power connecting them to the poor creature on the rack pulse regularly, siphoning off their life force to make them share in and prolong the suffering of the one being tortured.

My eyes immediately went to one of the cages, a frail looking girl with sparkling, orange eyes and hair, almost like living flames, shivered within, unable to avert her gaze from the grizzly tableau in front of her. She must have felt my presence for the very moment I stepped over the threshold, her eyes snapped to mine and a glimmer of hope ignited in their depths. Unfortunately, the same held true for the two angels and their gaze, burning with the blue fires of insanity, landed on me.