It took everything in his being to avoid looking at Andariel, her charm magic oozing across him due to sheer proximity in the same way Lucifer’s had. His solution, shift closer to Lucifer to counterbalance the Sin auras clashing against his Nexus.

Not once did Abraxis blink, staring back at Lucifer the entire time. This is a test, I’m sure, but am I passing? He thought about it for a second. Of course I’m passing. There’s no way I’d fail, not even a surprise test.

And sure enough, Andariel finally took the spot next to Lucifer. That eased the strain against his mind greatly, but he’d be wiped after all was said and done. He’d have to make it out alive, but his self-assured confidence was unshakable, indomitable, and unbending. Even with tricks, he’d never bow down to the inferior likes of the pair of archdemons.

“Abraxis.” Andariel regarded him with a lewd gaze, her barely clothed figure jostling and jiggling her cute yet sexy body that looked ever so soft. But he refused to focus on any of those things and remained staring directly at Lucifer. There was only one person in the room he’d ever show proper respect for, and the Emperor was it. “Do you wish to Awaken, Abraxis?”

That caught his attention, and he nearly snapped his gaze towards her in surprise. He only just stopped himself, instead responding, “Wouldn’t anybody?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Huskiness, sex-cravings personified, and all the mating pheromones in the world wouldn’t make him look at her. If he did, everything would be over. “What do you think of Lilith? Is she to your liking?”

Pride oozed from Lucifer, and that little boost, the knowledge of knowing Abraxis had a claim to something that would make the Emperor of Hell beam, helped him respond. “She is adequate, yes.”

“Adequate?” The threat in Lucifer’s voice didn’t go unnoticed, nor did the explosion of flames that encircled Abraxis. Heat so great, he thought his very skin would begin to blister from mere proximity, trapped him there. He’d said what he said though and wouldn’t back down. “Is that all?”

“She is not Empress Andariel, that’s for sure,” Abraxis said, shrugging. The movement felt unnatural, delayed, stuffy. The whole situation was amazing, exhilarating, set his heart to racing in a way that being out in the mortal realm or in the Underdark never would. “But yes, she is adequate. Her growth potential is far greater than anything else of this generation and likely surpasses both of yours, if a historical comparison is drawn and measured that is.”

They shared a look, a knowing thing of bemused excitement. Then Lucifer stepped closer, and a sigh left Abraxis’ lips unbidden. Bitterness flickered through him, but the genuine reaction of a kindred spirit flashing through Lucifer’s eyes reassured Abraxis. He let the minor frustration go, convinced he’d gained more than lost. His greed was satisfied, and that satisfied his pride.

Lucifer stepped beside Abraxis and stopped, their shoulders touching. Even if only brief, a momentary thing, the Sin that coursed through Abraxis short-circuited him for the—he’d lost count.

“Contrary to our expectations when we first agreed to your betrothal,” Andariel said, crossing her arms under her bust and taking two steps forward, “you’ve managed to fuel a level of growth far higher than anticipated in Lilith. We simply wished to reward you for a job well done.”

Huh?

“Look here,” Lucifer ordered, pointing towards the central pillar. An archdemon Abraxis had never seen before entered the throne room and approached them, stopping at the fixture that held the currently-white orb. “Show us.”

The unknown archdemon flicked his wrist, and a swirling of Miasma blasted into the orb. A strange phenomena occurred where the pure white split into seven orbs, each with a trait of Sin within. Lines marked the sides.

“What is this?” Abraxis couldn’t help but ask, raising a hand to touch one of the projections. His hand went right through. He looked towards the unknown archdemon, and the unknown archdemon looked towards Lucifer, waiting. Following his lead, Abraxis looked at Lucifer, took a deep breath, then looked towards Andariel. “What is this?”

“So you do know how to pay respect,” she commented, her playful tone grating on his nerves. He wanted answers, and she knew it. She toyed with him, and he could do nothing but be wrapped around her finger and wait for her to disclose the necessary information. “As stated before, we wanted to reward you. In doing so, we came across Albagoroth, the creator of these orbs. Albagoroth, if you would.”

Nodding towards Abraxis, a clear sign of dismissal, Andariel watched the rest of the events without commenting further. Why she remained, Abraxis couldn’t figure out, but he didn’t have to.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Albagoroth had his full attention in the next moment. The demon was a hulking creature of rock solid sinew, built like a minotaur and just as ugly too. However, he had four sets of arms with thin, wiry fingers. When he moved, it was as if his hands had a mind of their own, polishing the orb, playing with its configuration and shifting the order of greatest to least amounts of Sin in each.

Abraxis assumed the waves he could feel wafting off the demon were that of an archdemon. The only reference for an Existential Ranking so cemented, so defined, so absolute was Lucifer’s. Even Andariel didn’t give Abraxis the same level of certainty that Albagoroth did.

Quite a curiosity he hoped to be revealed in time. Until then, Abraxis hoped the strange archdemon would continue after being introduced. He didn’t, not until prompted by Lucifer.

“Please explain the machinations of your creation, Albagoroth.”

That caught Abraxis’ attention. The Emperor of Hell spoke kindly to an unheard of archdemon? With respect? Like a peer? There had never, in all of history, been such an event. What is going on here?

When Albagoroth spoke, his voice was quiet yet filled the space of the throne room with something. What that something was, Abraxis couldn’t pinpoint. None of it made sense—and he then realized how the others must look at him.

That was a good feeling he clung onto as the situation progressed and Albagoroth continued. “The Readers you’ve used are out of date relics of the past. If I were to hazard a guess, you’re about ten thousand years behind the current model. Let me know if you want a quote on what an updated Reader would be,” he said, giving his sale’s pitch to Lucifer without an ounce of shame. “Now, I was curious too, so I’ll do this service for a discount.”

“What are the results?” Lucifer asked, gesturing towards the seven see-through orbs. “What do these projections mean?”

Albagoroth pointed at the first, the least of them all, green. “This here is envy. See the way it’s quite dull?” He pointed to the rest—blue, red, pink, gold, black, and violet. “I think the most impressive thing about this fledgling is that only envy, sloth, and wrath aren’t fully embodied. Having said that, the capability is there. The rest, he has a perfect attunement to.”

Lucifer nodded and crossed his arms, eyes sparkling. “A true enigma, as is befitting my progeny’s betrothed. Lilith should be rewarded too for bewitching such a spectacle.”

“She didn’t bewitch me,” Abraxis argued out of habit rather than a meaningful rebuttal. He grasped what Albagoroth was saying, but it didn’t make sense. “How is this possible?”

The subject matter expert pointed towards Lucifer and Andariel. “These two here have created Lilith, a demon with an accelerated growth rate and a higher affinity to the dualities than they do. An educated guess and a confident gamble says that your parents were two entities like Lilith.”

“What?” Lucifer asked calmly as Abraxis exclaimed less calmly.

They shared a look then focused on Albagoroth. “It’s a simple concept to understand, really, and I’d be willing to pinpoint all of your genealogy. Of course, I won’t do so for free.” He looked between the two of them. “I feel like that doesn’t need to be stated, but I always like to be certain we’re all operating under fair terms.” With a wave of his hand, the still-expanding information he’d presented them with disappeared. “So, should we start talking about financing?”

Lucifer took the lead and responded in Abraxis’ stead, and for that, the fledgling was thankful. He was proud of a lot of things, but his meager wealth in the face of an archdemon would get him laughed out of the palace. “What’s the damage?”

Albagoroth snapped his fingers. A golden contract appeared, but he pulled it out of Lucifer’s reach before the Emperor of Hell could get his fingers on it and look over the details. The strange, unheard of archdemon pointed at Abraxis. “This is his genealogy, is it not?”

“He can’t afford your prices.” Lucifer waved away the concern and reached for the golden paper again. Albagoroth easily kept it out of reach, and a spark of wrath lit like a match box and engulfed the entirety of the throne room.

And dissipated instantly with a wave of Albagoroth’s hand. “Please refrain from acts of aggression. I will forgive a single offense, but any further attempts at violence will be responded with in kind.”

What? The scene he’d just witnessed didn’t process in Abraxis’ mind. One look at Lucifer told the fledgling the same thing was occurring within the archdemon, albeit the flaming wrathfire exploding out from behind him was definitely a different reaction. He’s directing it away from Albagoroth…?

Nothing made sense anymore. This no-name, oddly disfigured being from who knew where made Lucifer look like he was Abraxis in front of Lucifer, a fledgling who couldn’t do anything against an insurmountable power.

What? he repeated, blinking rapidly as his mind caught up with events. Once he reoriented himself, taking far less time than the barely-contained Emperor of Hell, his thoughts raced. “I need more information. What options do you have for screening? How in-depth can you go with the genealogy search? And what payment plans do you have for financing options?”

As Albagoroth responded, he held up a finger to answer each question. “There are several options, all doable as we are right here. The options themselves determine the nature of depth, so you’d have to consider that in with the costs. The more in-depth, the higher the price. As is natural.”

“So?” Abraxis learned literally nothing from those answers and felt as frustrated as Lucifer looked, though he had to admit the archdemon seemed to be calming down and leveling out far faster than anticipated.

The previous results haunted him, unknown bloodline and unlimited Existential Ranking potential growth. Without knowing his lineage—well, nothing really changed. But that didn’t mean he enjoyed not knowing.

Now that I think about it…

His eyes glinted in a sadistic glee as he opened his mouth.

“I’ll pass, but thanks for the offer.”