Chapter seventy five

        Surprisingly the first person to step forward wasn't the people who met 'divine beings' from their belief system, it was an old man that appeared from amidst the demons. 

          He appeared to be of African descent and not in the best of health as his breathing was a little rough and wheezy. He had a mangy beard and scraggly hair, if it wasn't for his fancy attire he could have been mistaken as a homeless person. He was wearing what appeared to be a velvet cloak that was so black that it seemed to be swallowing all the light around him, but the most distinguishing feature about him was the crown he was wearing that looked like it was made out of bones and ivory. Some of those bones appeared suspiciously human to me. As I was studying his crown he gave me a respectful bow and said,

            "Great demon, prince of hell , might this lowly mortal have the honor of knowing your name?"

             "No , you may not. I am not in a ritual circle so I am not just going to comply to your wishes summoner, and I am not going to give you my true name, I value my freedom too much for that."

             "Sorry, couldn't help myself, if I could control you I would be the most powerful man on earth."

            "Well I can't blame you for your ambition, if there is anything a demon could understand it's ambition. If you wish to speak to me you may refer to me as the collector. I am not a prince of hell, although I could very easily become one. I am more of a free agent that doesn't quite fit in with the normal hierarchy of hell, you see I have problems following orders. Now that I have sufficiently introduced myself, I think it's time for you to do the same."

            "I am King Solomon , former king of the land of Israel , current ruler of the continent of Africa, at your service"

           "Ah, so you're Solomon ? I heard you died some time ago, and what I just saw of your skills was quite underwhelming. The Solomon of old would have crushed these small fries like ants. Are you claiming to be that Solomon ? Oh, and you can take a seat while we talk, you look a little tired."

            "Thank you collector, I was feeling a little exhausted. Yes, I am the Solomon of old, I tried taking over this body, and as you can see it was hardly a perfect host, my soul fragmented during the transfer. Thankfully I was able to scrounge up enough magic to stop any further degradation of my soul and my body. But alas after the whole ordeal I was left permanently diminished."

           "That is fascinating, I would love to speak more to you about your ordeal, I'm particularly interested about topics that involve the soul, it is sort of a hobby of mine you see, but I'm afraid that's going to have to wait. It seems the rest of our little gathering have gathered enough of their courage to show themselves."

            Almost as if they had discussed it before hand, the witches and the druids both decided to come out from behind there defenses at the same time.

            The white glowing sphere slowly faded away , revealing thirteen women clasping hands .All of them were wearing the traditional garb that the priestesses always wore, the white robe with the golden pentagram. For a moment they just stood there, staring at the angel then they fell down to their knees and started to pray in Latin. On the other side , an ancient looking man with a green robe , long white beard and completely bald head was staring at the green girl and suddenly started to mutter something in what sounded like Gaelic. The three young men that followed behind him just looked at her mutely.

            "Ladies and gentlemen , my two companions are here as arbiters , not to receive prayer or answer questions. According to the rules they are not even allowed to speak , they are just here to make sure that my judgment is fair and no sides are slighted. Now please have a seat so that we can talk about this like civilizes people."

           A red haired woman from the group of witches asked," And why should we listen to you , foul demon? We don't have to obey you."

           "But you do have to obey me, I was entrusted by your ancestors to keep the peace between the different factions. This document here has been signed by both the druids and the sisterhood. Throughout the years I have ignored many small conflicts because they didn't have the potential to escalate, but this particular tiff would have started a war between the two factions which forces me to intervene."

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

             The druid looked at me curiously then said, "Who are you?"

              "As I told my little friend here, you may call me the collector, and I made a deal with your ancestors to enforce the peace."

              "I'm assuming you are not doing this out of the goodness of your heart, what's in it for you?"

             "Very astute, my payment is the soul of anybody refusing to abide by the peace treaty. Now everybody take a seat or I am going to count it as a breach of contract."

             That got them moving, nothing like a good threat to get a meeting going. The druid and his apprentices sat to my right and the witches sat across from me. 

              "To start off the meeting I would like you to introduce yourselves."

            The red head witch from earlier spoke first,"My name is Agnes, I will represent my coven in this meeting, you don't need to know their names."

            The old man just smiled and said," name's Cedric, I'll represent the druids I guess."

           "Alright Agnes and Cedric , why were the two of you fighting?"

          Cedric looked at the other two with an accusatory stare and said, " I was just defending my territory after these two started to try their best to destroy it."

          "Is this true Miss Agnes ? Why were you engaging in violent activity with Mr Solomon ?"

          "That's not the whole story! A few months ago some prominent members of the church came here hunting a heretic, and they never reported back. We later found out from some witnesses that they were murdered by the heretic , who then fled the city. This here was the property of the heretic. When we found this man already snooping around , we tried to question him about what he knows but he wouldn't cooperate then attacked us . This wasn't our fault!"

           "What do you have to say king Solomon ?"

           "I came all the way from my home because I felt something that could help restore a part of my power . I tracked it all the way here after many hardships, just as it was almost in my grasp this rude woman demands that I give her all the information I have worked so hard to find, then she told me that her group was taking anything found in this area. Obviously I wasn't going to let this woman steal this chance to restore myself to my former glory, so I defended my claim to any findings on this land, she insisted on getting confrontational, so I obliged her."

             "Alright , from what I have heard and divined there is a very simple way to resolve this. Cedric, your conduct was fitting and acceptable. Agnes, the heretic you are looking for is now far beyond you, he now has the power to destroy your entire church. That is not a hornets nest you want to stir up, this I will take a solemn vow on. Solomon, the power you seek cannot be used by you, you are going to have to find another way to restore yourself."

              Agnes was surprised by my vow,"But we can't let him go just because he is too powerful, it is against the mandate of saint Sofia."

              I made a light beam streak from the angel's head to mine, to make it appear as if she was communicating with me, then I started laughing really hard,

             "My companion wants to tell you something, normally I would never help anybody for free, but what she told me will cause you so much distress that it is worth it. Sofia is now one of the heavenly host and a friend of my companion here. She is very distressed that they would use her name to condone senseless violence. She says that blinded by your power you have turned into the people that you hated. She says you should stop the violence and lead a life of healing and peace like she did. "

             "You're lying! You are trying to trick us demon!"

               I just pointed towards the angel , who was nodding sadly to confirm my story.

              They just sat there with desolate expressions on their faces as if everything they have ever known had just been taken from them.

               "Well, it seems I don't get to take anybody's soul this time, be good or next time you might not be so lucky."

                 Then I teleported out of there.