Lucifer fell, as all eventually did. His life's blood flowing from the countless wounds on his body, the Devil collapsed atop the platform, utterly spent. For a moment Cobalt stood there, gasping and rasping as he savoured the moment. He licked his lips within the shell of bone encasing his head, and though it had been badly damaged and cracked, it had protected him from the worst of Lucifer's blows. He watched for a moment as his prey dragged himself back across the stone dais, leaving a smeared trail of red amidst the sprouting roses all around.
"N- No... not to you...!" the King of Demons guttered, his voice cracked from screaming.
Cobalt flexed his hands, his heart burning hotter than it had ever burned before. The anticipation was electric, dancing on the tip of his tongue as he greedily eyed up the Devil's injuries. His left leg was buckled; the bone badly cracked by repeated blows to the side of the knee.
Turning onto his back, Lucifer dispelled the iron gauntlets upon his hands, reforming the ferromantic mist instead into a sharp knife. Despite his injuries, he faced Cobalt with a defiant, bleeding gaze, gripping the blade tight in one hand as he gestured for him to approach.
"Come claim your prize then, cur! See if it bleeds you before you can even swallow!"
The Incubus surged forward, but he had no intention of ending things so quickly. Rather than throw himself upon the Devil, inviting him to drive the dagger right between the plates of his carapace, Cobalt instead planted his foot right upon Lucifer's chest, pinning him to the blood-soaked floor. As he ineffectually stabbed at his armoured shin, his burning gaze turned to the Devil's wounded leg.
That would do.
Pressing his other foot down upon his thigh, the Incubus hunkered down and grasped Lucifer's lower left leg, sinking his claws deep enough to hit bone. Ignoring the cries of pain from beneath him, he began to pull it upwards, all while keeping his femur pinned beneath his foot. As pain turned to an almighty, agonised howl, Cobalt's sadistic grin grew wider. It was like melodic heraldry, ringing in his ears, urging him to pull harder until the knee joint snapped and the femur began to crack. His veins were afire, his mind a nonsensical slew of violent impulses, all urging him to give in to hunger burning bright within his stomach.
He could only oblige as - with a twist and a crunch - Cobalt Trayer tore Lucifer's leg clean off.
Blood and petals, hot and sweet; it all sprayed into his face as he held his prize aloft, dousing his bony armour red as the Devil roared beneath him. A high-pitched ringing sounded in the Incubus' ears, heightening his victorious fervor into sheer, maddened delirium, and urging him to fall upon all fours in an effort to devour what was his. As tough and battleworn as Lucifer's flesh was, it was no match for the teeth of a starved Incubus, and it took little effort on his part to bite deep into the calf of the severed leg and begin to gorge.
He had consumed much on this day; the flesh of Devils was quickly becoming his favourite, but this... oh, this was something else entirely. His mouth tingled with every bite, as though every fibre of muscle and globule of fat was charged with the primordial energy of a god. Even as he bit through bone and it splintered into shards that cut his mouth to bits - one final act of defiance from his prey - he could feel something seeping into the wounds. A flavour unlike any other, salty and sweet and spicy and savoury all in equal measure, suffusing every sense he had with sheer bliss. His vision went white, his skin was set aflame, his ears rang with tones unheard of...
Cobalt didn't know how long it took him to eat Lucifer's leg in whole. Perhaps only a few moments. All he knew was that it simply wasn't enough. Coughing and spluttering through the bear-trap visor of his carapace, he turned back to face the rest of his prey, his tail thrashing like a bladed whip. Lucifer sat up, his face pale and sweat-slicked. He had tied his belt around the gushing stump in an effort to cut off the bleeding, and though he still gripped the dagger, he was shaking.
"I... will not fall... to an animal..." he gasped, raising the weapon in preparation of a last stand.
Cobalt slowly approached, taking his time so as not to ruin the moment. Around his feet, roses surged and bloomed, as if invigorated by the godly flesh he had just consumed. His blood vessels ran molten, and he felt as though every fibre in his body had been pulled taught; coiled springs begging for release.
"I... am Lucifer. Overseer... of... Creation...! I am a god...! I cannot die...! Not like this...!"
He clashed his claws together, pondering just how to prepare the meal before him. This wasn't something he could do in haste. No, he had to be strategic; he had to make it last. That leg was just an appetizer. Now, he'd have to-
"STOP~!"
Something struck the Incubus from behind; a heavy, blunt object. It cracked the bone and knocked him aside, briefly stunning him as he was caught up in his maddened fantasy. Growling and hissing like a rabid animal, he righted himself onto all fours, glaring at whatever had dared to interrupt him at such a crucial moment.
A woman, dressed all in leather. In each hand she clutched an iron hammer, and dried blood was crusted all around her left eye. She was a Devil, much like the man she had taken up a protective stance in front of, and her remaining eye was trained squarely at Cobalt.
"That's enough, Cobalt!" she called, reaffirming her grip on her weapons.
He bared his teeth. There was a slight shake to the way she stood, and he could hear her straining heartbeat. She was weak; unsteady on her feet.
As the Incubus took a step towards her, the Devil raised her voice.
"I know you lost your father, but that doesn't mean I should lose mine too! Please, stop this!"
A child protecting her parent. What did that matter? All it confirmed in Cobalt's mind was that this woman's meat would taste much the same as Lucifer's, spurring him to prepare to pounce.
"Cobalt! It's me, Lilith! C'mon, I know you're not this fuckin' dumb! I know you can control this!" she pleaded, her wavering voice betraying just how distraught she was.
He paused for a moment. Lilith...? Why did that ring a bell? His mind - a forest fire of screaming impulses and starved urges - sparked at the mention of that name, but just like all the others, he couldn't quite put a finger on why.
"Please... I don't want to hurt you, kid...!"
"Lilith... kill him already...!" Lucifer choked, tightening the belt around his thigh.
She shook her head.
"No. That's not him. You hear me, Cobalt?! This isn't you! So just... snap out of it already!"
There was nothing for him to snap out of. This was the most alive Cobalt Trayer had ever felt in his life. Everything that had ever happened to him up into this moment meant nothing; it all burned away in the fires of his mind, leaving nothing but instinct to drive him. He didn't want to go back, if there even was a "back" to go to.
He made his stance clear by preparing to pounce, fixing to tear Lilith's throat out before she could annoy him any further. Noticing his shift in posture, she took a shuddering breath.
"Damn it, Cobalt... You were supposed to be better than this!"
She crossed her weapons before her face in the vain hope of saving herself from a quick and messy death, but Cobalt had no intention of kowtowing to the Devil's piss-poor defences. He launched himself forward with all the strength he could muster, only to be subjected to an irritatingly familiar sensation; oily black shadows snaking their way into his armour, binding him to something far behind him. But unable to react, all Cobalt could do was brace himself for the landing as he was wrenched clean off the platform, thrown the floor by the other bodies he had left in his wake. Crumpling to the ground amidst the thorns and roses, he snarled irritably and scrambled to his feet.
Another intruder stood before him, her arms swathed in shadow. A pleated skirt, a dirtied shirt, bright eyes and purple skin... A Succubus, unarmed and unbowed by fear. Weak. Supple. Barely a bump in the road.
And yet, when he tried to charge her, he found his breath catching in his throat. There was something in the air, wafting from the woman standing in his way. A sweet fragrance, underpinned with notes of something else... something familiar...
The Succubus raised her hand and incanted something, her Tongues pronunciation sounding strange and alien in his ears. The shadows around his feet swelled and roiled, latching onto his legs with inky tendrils and anchoring the Incubus in place.
"Karazelle?! What the Hell are you doing?!" Lilith called from atop the platform.
She kept staring at Cobalt. No anger in her eyes. No hate. No fear. Just... something he couldn't recognise. Why was she looking at him like that?
"I don't know. Probably something dumb that'll bite me in the ass," the Succubus responded.
Her voice...
"All I know is that I can't leave him like... this."
"Karazelle-!"
"If you wanna save your dad's life, then now is the time to do it! Leave him to me!"
Her eyes flashed. They were blue; brilliantly so.
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again; if there's one thing in the world I'm sure about, it's that he'd never do anything to hurt me."
The sheer arrogance of her words disgusted Cobalt, and yet the way in which she said them almost staggered the Incubus. With an annoyed roar, he ripped his feet free from the shadowy coils, only to stumble headfirst into a tangle of webs woven from darkness. As he struggled and thrashed, Karazelle slowly approached him, her voice conveying nothing but a sad, profound disappointment.
"This... you... aren't Cobalt Trayer. No matter what, he would never have fallen to his urges. He would have never hurt Izzbelle or Lottie. He would never had scared Jelli or left Quinn a quivering wreck. No. No, you're just a monster wearing his skin, aren't you?" she said in a low tone, staring straight into his eyes.
He leaned forward as far as the shadowy bindings would allow him, struggling to swipe at her with his claws. She stood just out of reach, shadows coiling around her like snakes.
"Cobalt, if you can hear me, just know that... I get it. That you felt like you didn't have a choice. But that doesn't mean it didn't fucking hurt."
She sniffled, but wiped her eyes before any tears dared to show.
"... I know you're in there somewhere. And I'll drag you out by the throat if I have to."
Karazelle snapped her fingers, willing the shadows to abruptly slam Cobalt against the floor, chipping off pieces of his armour. Growling with annoyance, he sliced through as much of the inky webbing as he could, but they spread faster than he could cut them away. This woman's magical skill was far in excess of what he expected, and yet he still couldn't sense any aggressive intent from her. There was no smell of fear, just... that damnable scent, what was it...?!
Finding an opening in the binding cords, he tore himself free and rushed towards Karazelle, claws and blades ready to slice her to ribbons. She just stood there, staring. Waiting for his assault to connect.
Why? Why wasn't she running? Didn't she know she was prey?!
His eyes widened.
She knew something.
A trap. This had to be a trap.
Cobalt skidded to a halt, dropping low and preparing himself for anything.
She just stood there. Even as Lilith dragged her wounded father off the platform, leaving a trail of blood through the roses, Cobalt stayed where he was, staring the Succubus down. Something about her was messing with the fire inside, slowing his movements and messing with his perception. Everyone else turned and ran, or fought, or despaired. But she was just...
Why? Why, why, why?!
"Come get me," Karazelle said, opening her arms out wide.
Cobalt's claws dug into the floor, but he dared not move.
"Are you scared? Or is it something else?"
He spat onto the floor, his frothy saliva hissing and spitting.
"This is what you wanted, right? To devour me? Well I'm right here. Don't keep a lady waiting."
Goaded by her words, he lunged. Karazelle quickly stepped aside, lashing out with the Leather Whip she quickly pulled from thin air and coiling it tight around his throat. Try as he might to free himself, Cobalt was unable to stop her from redirecting his charge directly into one of the pillars. Chunks of bone crumbled off his protective shell, sending shocks of pain all the way through his scorched nervous system.
"Cobalt wouldn't have fallen for that," the Succubus said, her voice completely devoid of any of the emotions he was familiar with.
Hissing and spitting, he tried to get to his feet, only to be stuck in place by a morass of shadow.
"I think I'm outbursting, you know. Given all the stress. I... thought it would be scarier," she remarked, observing the shadows coiling all around her body.
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Karazelle took a deep breath.
"... Cobalt would know how to calm me down, how to get me through it. That's why I need to speak with him. Not you."
She slammed her foot down upon his back, cracking more of his armour and threatening to break one of his wings.
"I can't forgive everything he's done. But I can't rightly condemn it either. I... just need to speak with him, one last time. So. Give. Him. Back."
Raising her foot, she brutally kicked him in the side, releasing his bindings so he would skid across the floor.
Cobalt didn't know what she was rambling about. Frankly, he didn't care. All his ruined mind understood was the insult he was being presented with; this Succubus was toying with him, and he couldn't let it stand. Even if she had some kind of hold over him, he wouldn't allow her to hold the upper hand! Not while his hunger still burned!
He righted himself and doubled back, dropping low the hopes of gutting her before she could hope to incant another spell. But Karazelle just raised her hand, her fingers pulsing with psychomantic energy.
She snapped her fingers, and suddenly he was no longer looking at the apathetic Succubus challenging his might. Instead, Cobalt found himself faced with Karazelle, smiling and laughing before him. He skidded to a halt, transfixed. Gone was the ruined, bloodstained clothes she wore, replaced instead by an elegant black dress that complimented her raven hair perfectly. She was mouthwateringly beautiful, and as she swayed around him, Cobalt realised that they were dancing together. Slowly. Passionately.
A gargled, unintelligible rasp rumbled from his throat, prompting her to shake her head. Reaching forward, she placed a finger before his mouth, caring not for the jagged maw of bone she reached through.
"No more speaking, sugar. Just feel the moment."
Sugar...?
She blindsided him with a spinning kick, cracking the jagged teeth of his bony helmet and catching him right in the face. A dull crunch alerted him to the breaking of his nose as Karazelle kicked him flat onto his back, pinning him beneath one foot before he could try to get up.
"Don't try to keep fighting. I'm already painfully aware of how far the apple falls from the tree, but if you won't give him back then I'll just have to break you until you let go," she said in a threatening tone, her very form warped by umbramantic magic.
Cobalt raised a hand to slice at her leg, but she struck him with another burst of psychomancy, causing his vision to swim.
These visions... He could feel them being dredged through the inferno of his mind. He had already experienced them a lifetime ago; a lifetime that no longer mattered. Why...?
She was close. So, so close. Wrapped tight around him, gasping for breath as she intermittently shivered. The Succubus was wearing absolutely nothing, and something told Cobalt that he wasn't either. Drenched in sweat, the air was suffused with her scent, and his tongue could taste nothing but her. Karazelle looked him in the eyes, laughing half with embarrassment as her cheeks flushed.
"You... You really do have a silver tongue where it matters, huh...?"
"... I- I...!"
The fuzzy, half-remembered dream was shattered as the shadowing bindings slammed him against the pillar once more. Plates of bone and extraneous teeth cracked and split from his armour as he was cast to the floor. Cobalt coughed and spluttered a deluge of scorching blood from his throat, half-delirious already from both the pain and confusion. Where he once burned with fervor, now he felt the sting of something else, something he was struggling to put into words.
"Does it hurt?" Karazelle asked, stalking over to him.
His head lolled over to find the Succubus almost entirely consumed by the shadows, rendering her as little more than a pitch-black silhouette. He could only make out the upper half of her face, and the blue eyes that still bored through him. How he wanted to gouge them right out, but the moment he ever entertained the though, his skull began to ring painfully, as though his very mind was fighting against him.
"Good."
Another snap of her fingers, and a long-forgotten memory was ripped right to the forefront of his mind.
There he stood, shackled and bound, whipped and drugged before an audience. His torturer stood not to far from him, delighting in his pain and embarrassment. All around him, those he had spent his entire early life with, watching on as he divulged his every secret. And high above, in the gallery, was Karazelle, staring at him with those same, beautiful eyes.
And this time, he heard a different voice speak. A man's voice.
His own...?
"Do I...? Of course I love her. I fear I have from day one. And deep, deep down, I've always wanted to ask her something reckless. Karazelle Terna... Will you-?"
He screamed, as loudly and as harshly as possible; anything to break himself free from this waking dream. The memory shimmered and cracked around him, allowing him to see Karazelle as she prepared to strike with another powerful kick. Grinning through a mouthful of frothing blood, Cobalt intercepted her attack with a reckless lunge. She sidestepped his slower attacks as his quicker swipes barely seemed to scratch the shadows coating her body, only serving to enrage the Incubus further as he desperately tried to break through Karazelles defences. The two demons found themselves dancing again; a violent waltz through the corpse-strewn chamber, with neither gaining the upper hand nor allowing the other to breach their defences.
This Succubus - this woman - was unlike anything else Cobalt had faced. It was like she knew his every move, and yet found them lacking. It was insulting. Infuriating!
And yet...
And yet...!
And yet, and yet, and yet...!
Damn it all!
He would devour her whole if it was the last damn thing he did!
With a final, defiant howl, Cobalt split his helmet open and sunk his teeth straight through Karazelle's forearm. Cloth, shadow, skin, flesh, fat; he bit all the way to the bone. The Succubus cried out in pain, staggering a little as she grabbed his head, steadying herself as he bit deep.
"Agh... how's it taste...?" she guttered, digging her fingernails into the cracks of his carapace.
Her blood flowed thick and fast into his mouth. His eyes were watering, balking despite how good it tasted. His teeth were scraping bone, and though he hungered for the marrow within, his jaw just refused to clench any tighter. Despite the pain she was in, Karazelle reached her fingers into the maw of his helmet, prying it apart with a crunching sound that reverberated through his skull.
"You don't get to eat me that easy! Not without looking me in the eyes first!"
Cobalt growled through a mouthful of her arm. He grabbed at her throat, pinning the Succubus against the pillar, but rather than try to retaliate, she just redoubled her efforts.
"Come on...! I'm here for Cobalt, not you!"
He clenched his jaw as hard as he could, feeling the bone crack and splinter beneath his teeth. Karazelle's pained cries drove him on, but no matter how hard he bit her, she kept trying to pry his helmet off, throwing her head back as she gave one final scream.
"I TOLD YOU BEFORE; YOU'RE NOT GETTING RID OF ME, COBALT!"
Right as he snapped her radius clean in two, the Succubus wrenched the helmet off Cobalt's head, shattering it into a dozen fragments of sharp, bloodied bone. Letting go of her arm, the Incubus lunged for her throat, throwing both of them to the floor. He sunk his teeth right into her neck, ready to tear it apart.
And yet... he didn't.
Cobalt froze up.
His rasping, manic breathing syncopated with hers as for a single moment silence reigned throughout the chamber. His teeth - embedded in the flesh of her neck - refused to pierce any further, and as he struggled to fathom why his jaw had locked in place, Karazelle reached up with an uninjured hand. Shaking, she tenderly ran her fingers through his hair, caring not for the blood and sweat soaking it.
"Please..." she breathed, sounding unusually quiet.
He could feel every vibration of her desperate plea. This shouldn't mean anything. It shouldn't.
And yet...
"... I don't want this to be my last memories of you. I know you're in there, Cobalt. I know you can be sweet. I know you can be gentle. I... I've seen it. Please, don't take that away from me...!"
Blood oozed around his teeth. Sweet, fulfilling... it disgusted him. Not the flavour. But rather what he was doing.
Hot, traitorous tears streaked down his face.
"This isn't you. This was never you. You're better than this, Cobalt. P- Please..."
She gripped his hair tightly. Cobalt could hear her heartbeat. It was pounding so quickly, so loudly... Of course she was scared. She had been from the start, just not of him.
"... tell me it'll be okay. Tell me it'll all go back to how it was before..."
Karazelle began to cry, her outburst having finally run its course. Completely spent, her limbs fell by her side as the shadows swathing her body faded away, leaving her as little more than a shaking, quivering mess. She was easy prey. A meal waiting and ready to devour. There was nothing stopping him now.
And yet...!
And yet...
And... yet...
The impossible blaze in his stomach, fueled by the flesh of a god burning within him, died away to embers. His blood cooled to ice water as slowly, the carapace of bone began to crack and fall apart. The tears cleared his eyes, washing away all the blood and the roses from the corners of his vision. With a quiet, gurgling choke, he pulled his teeth from the flesh of Karazelle's neck, leaving a series of red teeth marks marring the perfect purple flesh of her throat. Pulling away shakily, the Incubus looked up into her eyes.
"... K- Karazelle..." he guttered, his voice raspy from all the screaming.
Looking down, he saw her arm was badly broken. It too suffered a bite mark.
"... What have I done...?"
He got off her and stumbled back, only to wind up falling to his knees. As the rest of his armour sloughed off, exposing his wounded, bleeding flesh, Cobalt stared at his hands, his vision blurring as he shook all over. The stench of blood was overpowering, enough to almost turn his stomach despite the hunger it incited. HIs guts felt fit to burst, and the freezing-cold sensation in his veins was like a thousand tiny needles ripping him apart from the inside out.
For the first time in months, Cobalt's hunger was sated. And now all he wanted to do was throw it all up.
As his vision blurred and wavered, he could only make out a single figure.
A black cat, calmly seated before him, staring with glimmering emerald eyes.
"Is this... the end...?" he guttered, meeting its unblinking gaze.
It calmly licked its paws.
"That depends, Cobalt. Do you want the easy, comforting answer? Or the true answer?"
He coughed, splattered blood and scraps of flesh all over the floor. Something was wrong. He could feel his heart slowing, his blood turning to sludge in his veins.
"I... comfort, please... it hurts... What's happening...?" he gasped.
The cat sighed and padded closer to him.
"Then yes, this is the end. You're dying, Cobalt. Can't you feel it?" it asked in a quiet, gentle voice.
He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to will the effort to cry. But Cobalt was simply too tired. He was completely exhausted. Spent. Done.
"... I can feel it. It hurts...!" he winced, holding a hand to his chest.
"You burned the last of what you had. As of right now, I'd say the only reason you still draw breath is Lucifer's leg boiling within your stomach."
It looked past him for a moment, its tail swishing back and forth.
"... I'd suggest you use what time you have left to finish your business here."
"W- Wait...!" Cobalt cried, reaching for the cat as it turned to leave.
It glanced back at him.
"I... I'm afraid...!" he whimpered, his voice small and quivering, like that of a child's.
"... Don't be. You're a dab hand at dying, regardless. This time will be no different."
It stalked away into the middle distance, shifting and blurring with Cobalt's vision. He knelt there for a moment, struggling to catch his breath, wondering when he lungs would suddenly refuse to keep heaving. The cat wasn't wrong; the Incubus had stood upon the cusp of death more times than he could count, but this time felt final. There was no coming back from this. He could feel every cell of his body dying off, one by one, burned to cinders by the Incupsychosis.
So this was it. The madness had finally won.
He could hear footsteps slowly approaching him. Karazelle stood by him, limply clutching her broken arm. For a moment, neither of them spoke as she knelt down beside him. Cobalt didn't know what to say, and he had a feeling that she didn't know either.
Slowly, painfully, he reached for his neck and pulled his tie off, handing it to Karazelle. She accepted without a word, staring at it for a moment before placing it in her pocket.
"... It'll be okay, Karazelle..." he rasped, doing his utmost to fulfil her wish.
His arms were shaking. He could barely support himself.
"Will it?" she asked in an equally small, terrified voice.
"I..."
Cobalt didn't know for sure.
"... Do you want the comforting answer, or the true one...?"
"... I could go for some comfort right about now..."
He swallowed hard. His throat burned.
"Then... yeah. It will."
The Incubus' leg buckled as his arms went numb. As he collapsed onto his side, Karazelle tried to help, only for him to pull away at the last moment. The cool floor was comforting in a way, even as his sense of touch gradually degraded.
"Please... Please don't. I don't deserve it. Not after everything you've already done for me."
"Cobalt-"
"Can you... do me a favour?"
She tipped her head back for a moment, swallowing hard in an effort to keep the tears from flowing. She failed, splashing them against his face as she looked Cobalt in the eyes.
"Of course," Karazelle said.
"Could you call me it? That name, one last time?"
She bit her lip, smiling sadly despite it all.
"... Of course, sugar. Of course."
Somehow, hearing Karazelle's voice say those words made it all feel like it was going to be okay. Cobalt allowed himself to fall onto his back, staring up at the ceiling as the light warped and dulled. The Succubus by his side called his name, but her voice kept fading in and out, and as the painful needle-like sensation slowly dulled to a throb, Cobalt found himself looking inwards.
All his life, he had been destined to end up just like this. To suffer, to kill, to eat and to die. To destroy everything around him, and ultimately himself. He was doomed from the very beginning, and in the grand scheme of things, there was truly nothing he could do about it.
And yet... he tried. He tried, and he struggled, and he fought, and he lived.
Cobalt Trayer became a teacher against all odds, and he struggled through the hardships of his rambunctious class alongside them, as a friend. He taught Jelli what it meant to stand up tall, for herself and her family. He freed Elya from the Curse that had plagued her for years. He had Quinn's back when she truly needed it. He stood witness to Lottie's declarations of love. He showed Whitney the way to forging her own path. He fought for Izzbelle when she could no longer fight for herself. And for Karazelle... he did everything he could.
Cobalt had failed them all. But for a time - for a brief, beautiful time - they were happy. He loved them all. And for that same time, they loved him.
Tears rolled down his face as his vision failed. Karazelle was shaking him, but he had long since been dulled to sensation. His heart - strained from being pushed far beyond its limits - slowed to a crawl.
In his final lucid moments, only one thought echoed through his rapidly-quieting mind. A gentle apology, to those he had wronged, to those he had hurt, and ultimately, himself.
Finally, his hearing faded to nothing, leaving the Incubus in complete darkness.
Before long, even his thoughts went silent.
There, on the floor of Tempered Bastion 31-3's Transportation Chamber, Cobalt Trayer finally faded away.
At peace, at long last.
~~~~~
The roses rustled in the breeze, their red petals fluttering with every gust of wind. Up above, the sky was pitch black and filled with glittering stars, and yet it was as bright as day on the mountaintop. It was cold up here, and when the Incubus peered over the side of the rose garden, he found himself staring down at the top of a blanket of clouds. A simple wrought-iron fence was all that stopped him from tumbling straight down the side of the mountain. It didn't seem terribly safe, but for some reason, he wasn't scared.
He wasn't even all that confuse. Strange, considering he had no idea where he even was. His head was fuzzy and unwilling to give him anything to work on. No matter. Surely a little exploration wouldn't hurt.
Turning on his heel, the Incubus pushed through the field of crimson roses, reaching out to touch them as he passed through the untended garden towards the building before him; the only other presence atop the mountain. A large, fancy house, complete with tall windows and gorgeous detailing. It even had grand pillars flanking the front doors, bringing a faint smile to his lips as he effortlessly pushed them open.
Within was a grand atrium; a circular entrance hall filled with yet more of the ever-present roses. They wove seamlessly with the wood-paneled walls, snaking their way through the open windows and filling the air with a sweet, calming perfume. The floor was covered in pieces of parchment, and as the Incubus ventured further inside, he noticed hundreds of books filling the hall; stacked upon the furniture, braced against the walls and even piled upon the twin staircases leading upstairs. Marveling at the sight, his attention was suddenly grasped by the many other doors surrounding him, each leading to different parts of the ground floor. Excitement filled his bones as he approached the closes, only to stop upon placing his hand upon the handle.
There was something on the floor. A broken lock, surrounded by the equally broken links of a chain. Puzzled, the Incubus peered around at the other doors, each bearing similarly destroyed bindings resting before them.
Strange...
Only one small side door seemed to lack this anomaly, drawing him towards it. Pushing it open, he found himself in a small hallway leading deeper in, filled with just as many books and roses as before. He carefully crept along it, drawn towards the door at the very end of the hall, emitting firelight from beneath it. He drew a sharp intake of breath and pushed it open.
Within was a small, cozy study, filled with yet more of the books. A fire roared within a stately fireplace, and dominating the very centre of the room was a beautiful fireplace. Eyes wide with wonder, he stepped inside, looking around to find that the room already had an occupant. A little black cat, perched upon a bed constructed from torn book pages. He watched as it opened its mouth - presumably to meow at him - but for some reason it produced no sound. Smiling, the Incubus patted it on the head and took a seat in the armchair.
All of a sudden, he was overcome with drowsiness as the warmth from the fireplace worked its magic. He leaned back in the chair, his eyelids drooping shut.
Yes, this was a nice place.
He'd stay here for a while, and just...
... Rest.