Gabriella slapped Allen awake, who was chained to a chair, he opened his eye immediately, wincing in pain.

Vita watched Allen from her throne, a scowl on her face and dried tear streaks on her cheeks while Gabriella stood at her side. Two guards held spears to Allen’s throat and one more stood behind him with a pistol aimed at the back of Allen’s head.

All Allen did was cackle.

“ By the gods it’s so bright here. Quite the gilded look yer going for.” He finally looked at Vita and gasped sarcastically, “ Oh my the mighty Mrs.Perfection. Oh I’m so blessed to be in your presence,” he began cackling with madness again.

“ How dare you come to the mortal realm. Beat up my angels. Refuse my orders. Kidnap my Chosen One. And schemeing a coup to dethrone me. But you can repent mortal. Tell me your grand plan and I’ll let you go and free you of the curse.”

“ I ain’t tellin’ ya shit. You might as well just spear me and shoot me. That is if your brainwashed canaries can hold a gun properly. Like seriously they still have the safety on.”

The angel that held the pistol took a few moments to find the safety and turned the safety off.

“ What I have done is but a fraction of your crimes, Vita. This god. Not mortal. God isn’t under yer control. So long as I live. I will scheme, plot, and beat up all I please to crumble ye to yer knees!”

“ The Dream Realm declared neutrality in this war. So why for Constellations sake, are you even in this? What’s the point?” Gabriella snarled, her wings ruffled in agitation.

“ Is it your love for Azrail? Or do you just enjoy being a problem?” Vita asked with a sneer.

“ Your ego and your perfectionist complex made Heaven unsafe. Not allowing the poor souls to rest in-”

“ Norah was safe here. She has everything here. She was who she is meant to be here. She was fine until you sent that horrid parasite in. Then she started-”

“ Doubting? Thinking? Actually becoming a decent person? Ah Gabbie, how did your failed crusade go in the Dream Realm by the way?”

“ How did you know,” Gabriella growled.

“ Oh please, I know everything that happens there. Also, Vita tell me how are Nameless’s humans doing? Or how your perfect creations are doing since you saved them? I’m dying to know.”

One could almost see the smoke coming out of Vita’s and Gabriella’s ears from the flames of outrage burning in their eyes. The two began to talk privately and Allen whistled an eerie tune as his fingers twitched as if he were playing his harp.

Some of the angels in the throne room nodded a little at each other.

The archangel and the High goddess whispered to each other while glancing at Allen with the look like they have a plan cooking in their heads.

Vita marched toward him while she summoned a bright golden fire in her hands. Allen stared at Vita with the expression on his face that said I dare you.

“ Open his mouth,” Vita commanded. Allen snarled at the angels and opened his mouth willingly. Vita shoved the sun colored flames in his mouth and he swallowed it willingly.

They watched as Allen was beginning to shake and start to foam at the mouth while his eye switched from his normal yellow to pure white. He then began to make a sound that sounded like he was puking and laughing at the same time.

Vita ordered the angels to stop him but it was too late. Allen had puked up a pool of golden ooze, and a being that had a body of pure darkness. Aside from it’s haunting golden eyes. It took the form of a small bat-like creature.

The angels tried to grab the creature but the thing dodged their attempts to capture it with ease. The bat looked at Allen with it’s big golden eyes then it flew away out of Heaven. Gabriella held Allen’s throat tightly in her hand.

“ What did you do?!” Gabriella yelled with her voice echoing throughout the throne room.

“ Lass how stupid are ye? Honestly, everyone knows that any strong mage can fuse spells together. And I, lass, am the sage of dark magic and the creator of nightmare magic.” His voice was strained as a result of the hand on his throat.

Vita ordered Allen to be taken to the dungeons with the others, and when the guards entered the dungeon with Allen. Azrail, Pestis, Flora, Fawn, and the god of War stared at Allen with mixes of pity, shock and hopelessness.

The angels threw Allen in the cell next to Azrail’s. They locked him in silver chains enchanted with white runes around his ankles and wrists. Then locked the cell door as they left the dungeon.

“ Why in the nine circles of Hell are you here? It's your job to get us out! How could you let yourself get captured!?” Azrail shouted.

“ My darling, Azrail. I have not failed you; this is all part of my plan. We have the girl on our side, and your son is wearing your skulls. Trust me we’ll free you all while destroying Vita in the process. Just be ready to do a Council of the Constellations.”

An angel from the throne room entered the dungeons. Her feathery plumage similar to that of a harpy eagle and wings were an elegant white. The angel’s feet were large ebony talons that elegantly moved with her movements. Her skin was a light brown, and her gentle facial features reminded Allen of Norah. She kneeled in front of Allen’s cell to be at eye level.

“ My lord, the attack on Pestis’s kingdoms will happen in 12 days. She will strike on the outer islands first to make a base then slowly move inland. While the forces elsewhere move in from the other side. But the outerislands need to be conquered first.”

“ Who will she be using? And how are they getting there?”

“ Angels, and people from the other regions she’s conquered. She will begin at the tip of Pestis’s Finger.”

“ Ha! Good luck, their navy will annhilate them,” the goddess giggled in delight.

“ She will open a portal to evade the navy. The portal will open near the coast at Pestis’s fingernail.”

“ Good work. Continue your job,” Allen waved her away, but she stayed still kneeling.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“ My lord…don’t I deserve a reward?”

“ Of course you do, but I’m afraid with these chains on I cannot give it to you. But don’t worry if you continue to do good work the final reward shall be bestowed upon you,” a smile of sympathy spread on his face with a gentle expression. The angel nodded and left the dungeon. His smiled dropped as he rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“ Pathetic, angel,” he mumbled as Allen closed his eye, slowed his breathing, easing his muscles and his stirring mind. Trying to feel the creature he created.

**************

The blacksmith at last freed Norah from her rocky chains. She sighed in relief after a few stretches. An awkward silence filled the empty throne room causing a special tension to boil between the two. A tension that caused people to fidget with anything nearby and to erupt in odd sounds. From snapping to a beat, mindlessly whistling, and any other noise a body could make to ward off the silence.

What do I say to her now? What could I say? Hey thanks for spilling your feelings out, how’s the weather today? Gods that’s lame. Maybe we could talk about a plan? No…no she probably doesn’t want to talk about that.

He found himself staring at Norah. The way her silver hair flowed with her pacing feet. Her beautifully colorful wings shimmering in the fire light. Her gorgeous carmel skin seeming so soft and gentle. Everything about her features just seemed to hypnotize him.

“ What did your…other self mean when it said you saw me in your dreams?” She questioned twirling around to face him. Helsing flinched back into reality.

“ It was only a couple of times…I saw you chained by these flames…screaming for help…I’d never met you before, right?”

“ Yeah, I never saw you before either. Do you think it’s fate we met? Were you destined to help me?”

“ I’d like to think so,” the blacksmith smiled with the chosen one.

“ So tell me about yourself,” she plopped down next to him staring up at him.

“ I’d like to know what the Boogeyman’s descendant is like,” she continued.

“ Uh well…I’m a blacksmith. I live in a small village at Pestis’s Finger. It’s small and no one likes us, really they want us dead, but it’s still a nice place. Some people are kind and they kinda need me.”

“ What’s your family like? Did you have to leave them behind?”

“.....Uh well…my mother used to be a Lady of Morbus. The Capital city of Pestis’s Finger….she was betrayed by her fellow court members…and she began searching for revenge….so she needed a weapon…a weapon to train and nurture…enter me and my other siblings…I’m the youngest…there were others but they either ran away or were killed for not being strong enough. She met my father, whoever he is, and they had me. She trained me to fight, to kill, and taught me my magic,” he summoned a small blue flame in his hand, “ She taught me to wield my rage as a weapon…but that’s all she was…a cruel teacher….after I killed my first target for her….I ran. I ran to my Gran and Pa where they took me in with loving arms. They showed me love, my Pa taught me blacksmithing. They both taught me how to use my abilities as a force of good instead of as a weapon,” Helsing smiled as he manipulated the fire to create a flower that dissolved into beautiful embers with a wave of his hand.

“ What about your mother? Where is she now?”

“ Fallen victim to the curse, a wrath curse. In my family any member at the age of 30 will become a monster filled with a mindless destructive malice until we die. Only Gran has been able to avoid the fate, but I don’t know why or how.”

“ Will you have that fate?”

“ No-at least I hope not. I have lived a peaceful life recently. I just hope this quest is enough to repent for everything..”

“ It will. For both of us,” she patted his shoulder in assurance, his expression softened into a hopeful one. The two stared at each other’s smiling faces. The throne room door creaked open. The Hellhound nodded for them to come, obeying they saw a strange creature hanging upside down on the chandelier that illuminated the hallway.

“ What is this thing?” Helsing questioned.

“ Please describe it to me,” Crow stated as he leaned against his lantern staff.

“ It’s like a bat. But, its wings are black and have the shape of normal bat wings but this creature’s wing structure seems to behave like fire. The rest of the creature’s body is black as well, but solid in structure. It has big golden round eyes that make it seem hollow,” Helsing described, still staring at the creature.

“ Allen must’ve fused light and dark matter together..sometimes I forget how strong and gifted he is in magic…for a mortal, ” Crow muttered the last part to himself and Aella.

“...Vita has been using my fire and her own light magic to toreture people and demons,” Norah added grimly.

The bat opened its mouth and began to speak exactly like Allen.

“ Oi listen up. Words going around that Vita is rounding up her armies both angels and her kingdoms. They’re getting ready to conquer Pestis’s lands in 12 days. So make yourselves useful and get the other armies ready! Get the armies set up, and I’ll cripple them all from the inside. Until those days are up prepare yourselves for the battle of the century. The armies need to be at Pestis’s fingernail,” after that message the bat flickered away similar to water turning to mist.

Helsing began exploring the obsidian palace while the others left to do their own thing.

The entire palace was dark the only light being the soft glow of violet flame torches. The halls were spacious and riddled with cobwebs. All of the doors to the various rooms were locked shut. The palace didn’t feel like someone lived in it, it just felt as if it was any normal abandoned castle.

Then Helsing noticed there was a door slightly ajar. The blacksmith crept his way through the slightly open door, heading into the room.

The bedroom wasn’t big but more spacious. The first thing the blacksmith noticed was the large master bed to the left of the door. The crimson and golden bed was luxurious and magnificent.

The bed itself seemed to be calling Helsing to come sleep on it, but he was able to overpower the calling of sleep through curiosity. He began to investigate the desk that was across from the bed. There were scattered document papers on the desk that were written in a foreign language that Helsing has never seen.

Helsing sat in the strange small wheeled plush chair that was at the desk. He started scanning the desk, seeing various framed pictures. The pictures were of two little kids, one of the kids seeming similar to Crow. But the one that stuck out the most was a headshot of a very handsome man. The man had delicate features, but his body was built like an ox, muscular and tough. His rugged smokey colored hair wasn’t kept well but it was charming in its own way. and those strange eyes of gold and silver that cast a gentle spell.

Is this the god Ferro? Helsing thought to himself as he went to the balcony that jutted out of the room, setting the picture frame down. He stood on the balcony gazing out onto the empty kingdom.

Any part of the land that was covered in gray stone was dark red stone that had small streams of lava rooted around the land that provided a soft glow to the kingdom. Railroads were laid down around the kingdom randomly. There were only four train stops in the entire area. One thing that was most surprising to see in the abandoned hellscape were cities built around the train tracks and stations. Each section of the city was different, some were bright and colorful, others were more spacious and rugged, and one was smaller and dull compared to the other six.

Another thing he found surprising was that Tartarus, the capital of Hell, felt like home. Helsing felt comforted being in Taratarus, and a small part of him was sickened by this comfort.

The blacksmith flinched when he felt an arm wrap around his shoulder. He looked at the source ready to attack but was put to ease seeing Norah. She removed her arm from the blacksmith and smiled at him brightly, he replied with his own.

“ So what exactly will free you from the wrath curse? Doing something out of the kindness of your pure of heartness or is it a true love thing?” Norah asked. Helsing chuckled a little.

“ Not really, the curse was placed because my family tree is full of abuse so I guess, by doing Azrail a favor by bringing him back. He’s the god of Black Magic, if anyone can undo it. It’s him.”

“ I suppose my decision to kill Azrail did a lot more harm than good…” she gazed down at the molten rock with a saddened expression.

“ What’s done is done Norah you can’t let your past decisions weigh you down. But you’re different than other people. You are actually trying to fix it. Now you are being a hero and defeating the evil Vita. But uh that’s just my opinion.” He fixed the placement of his beanie that was on his head with a faint blush appearing on his face.

Norah chuckled softly and looked back at Helsing who had a small smile across his face