“Excellent, now bleed on that unlucky coin of yours and pass it here.” Ordered Lily, removing her suppression collar.
A very confused Ashera did as she bade, tossing the bloody coin to Lily. The coin landed perfectly flat in her palm, as if it had been called home without so much as a jitter. Blood, red and vibrant as the sun dripped from Lily’s finger onto the coin. Silver metal flowed like liquid forming a perfect sphere of white metal, the hole Loki had pinched in the coin became its pupil with a starburst of striations rivuletting away from the orifice. Lily’s hand extended towards Ashera and the sphere floated through the air, landing in Ashera’s face and nestling itself within her eye socket. Bandaged flesh cooked as the silver sphere cooled, ensconcing itself within Ashera’s mana circuits.
The itch to blink had never been so overwhelming. Ashera squirmed, trying to blink her nonexistent eyelids as her natural vision restored itself then sharpened. The world focused in ways she had never imagined, colors were more vibrant, shadows were darker yet more transparent, the glare of sunlight on the water was visible to her enhanced eye, but so was the bottom of the river. Displayed in pristine visual acuity, as if it were inches from her face.
“Good, it’s been years since I’ve worked such fickle magic I was worried it might pop your skull like it did to the last mortal. Glad to see you are still with us.”
Pop my skull?! What the fu–
“Our pact is now sealed in blood, death may claim your body, and hell your soul, but those are trivialities for my son to deal with. You will teach him the price of vengeance and be his destroying angel if the need arises.”
All that and you want me to kill your son?
“Death seems to be working out for you.” Answered Lily with a shrug. She ran her fingers over her pale neck and clamped the suppression collar back into position, locking it in place with the flick of a finger. “That eye will lead you to the succubus, it shows you the world as we Seraphim see it, so be conscious of where you look. Except when it comes to my children and the Seraphs, the eye contains a message for them.” Said the High Queen.
Ashera’s mind raced with revelations. A message from the second most powerful being on Heaven’s side. In exchange for a single death? This deal seems weighted in my favor… One life has no price, thank you Lily! But… I’m still confused, my body and soul has already been promised twice over, the King of Hell himself would not accept a thrice promised soul. So why would you?
Lily held one finger over her lips and for one thousandth of a millisecond allowed her visual illusions to drop. Ashera did not blink. What she had seen made her question everything she had ever thought she understood. If she still had a beating heart, it would have stopped –and stayed still.
“As you can see my dear Ashera, it's complicated. Let’s just say our claim to your soul may rise to the preeminent claim instead of the tertiary. As for collecting on our pact, well, his blood mingles with my own.” Lily patted her stomach. “He will collect on our threesome pact, even if you are dragged into the pit.”
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Your humor needs professional help.
Lily laughed, sounding more like a dozen distant church bells. “I suggest you go find an animagus to rebuild your body, you’re positively leaking mana. Get patched up dear. Then keep your vengeance pure. That orb in your other eye will try and make prey of the innocent. Do not allow it to best you or it will be your soul that suffers the price.”
Yes, High Queen Lily.
Thank you. For everything.
Ashera used her new eye, setting off after the red cloud she saw in the distance. She would never be able to explain how she knew the haze was Lorelai’s malice, she just knew that her enemy would be on the other side of the crimson mirage.
—
Lily stepped through the portal, not wanting to remain on Oathinaoin soil for a second longer than was strictly necessary. The whole continent wreaked with a thrice cursed mockery of life. Hell owned this land and the people who thought they were free of corruption were being raised like free ranging cattle. Growing fat on a diet of peace and familial love as the demons culled their numbers one city at a time.
The portal opened onto the fertile gardens of their Sororian palace, the winter home of the Archon’s court. Captain Liam fell into line behind his Queen, exuding a shadow of annoyance at the liberties she had taken.
“Out with it.” Ordered Lily, refusing to let his anger simmer.
“My queen, why give her your blood? She will see things as we do! Our Seraphs struggle with that power and you gave it to a revenant! An undead who understands nothing but the ill will that birthed it! Without reason and compassion our sight will drive her to madness and butchery. I do not understand what would possess you to amalgamate such an abomination.”
Lily grasped his wrist and leaned heavily on him, as with all things he supported her, lowering her onto a nearby marble bench with a gentle touch.
“Thank you for trusting me Liam. I know your quarrel with the undead and how your nature would see her destroyed but in this case I had to bend the rules. Please forgive me, but Ashera cannot become one of us, she would grow in strength as an avenging angel to lead our armies through the night. Eventually she would surpass even my own ability for violence.”
Liam was not at all pleased with her answer, his jaw clenched and a vein in his neck began to bulge, an odd emulation from his human life. Seraphim had no physical bodies yet their body language transcended death. “Lily, why -in all that is holy- would you prevent an ascension!?”
“Because she wasn’t enough. In ten thousand futures she was defeated. No matter how quickly she rose, or how much favor we gave her, she always failed to save my son. I explored elevating her into the Archon and she still fell short. Heaven itself granted her power but it was not enough for what is coming.”
“So you damned her soul? We are already losing this war Lily! You should have let her ascend, join our ranks! None of us are enough, but together, with Uther, Valerian, you, and your son we might be able to-”
“I’ve decided on his name.” Said Lily, interrupting him.
Liam’s face turned cherry red, furious at having his opinion requested and dismissed before he could say his peace. His fury reminded Lily of his mortal self, when he was just her brother and not the High Queen’s Knight Captain –a fancy title for a queen-sitter.
“His name is William, because his will shall decide our fates, and he’ll need an uncle to look up to.”
Joy and fury wrangled Liam’s face, carving canyons as they fought a war of emoticons. His back straightened and he stepped back, taking several moments of heavy breathing to collect himself. When he finally spoke his face had cooled to the cherry red it had been moments ago.
“I’m flattered.” He said, his tone dryer than a summer in Keresh.
“Ashera’s path has only begun, even I, with all my foreknowledge, cannot say that her death prevented her ascension.”
“We must die before we can ascend, this is written on the gates of heaven.” Began Liam, citing the first meaning of the phrase. “But none have ever returned from undeath! Her soul is claimed, not to mention fragmented! She would have to recover the pieces and- and…” He gesticulated by slamming both hands into each other violently.
“Heal her broken heart.” Said Lily. “I know, and have seen a way it is possible. Though she cannot do it alone, no matter how many battles she wins, or how high she stacks the mountains of corpses, she will need William’s help, else she will trip and flounder on the final whore.”