Saviour of Souls

Zeella

The meeting room table was covered in parchments, maps and bottles of wine and empty martini glasses, the three men before me all contemplating over the plan I had given them in silence. Abel had been the first to return after my daughter had released Seth to the Fae Queen, seeking aid in destroying Desterium. At the time, I had sent him away, but once Belial had returned with the news of my daughter’s betrayal, and the knowledge that she somehow had the Paradoxin Cord in his midst, I had allowed for him to return, and offered him a proposition- He could pay me, and in exchange, I would allow him to help me plan my daughter’s demise. He had readily accepted, and just to seal our hastily made bargain, I had promised him Earth as his new home. Abel was young, arrogant and too stupid to realise that Earth was still radioactive, not a single place on the planet still safe to reside on, and it would remain that way for thousands more years, but he’d accepted. After all, I didn’t care what happened to Earth, my plan was to free Lilith from her curse, and take over control of The Borderlands, and eventually, the rest of the Dimension.

The Commander, the pitiful excuse of a man, had come running into Caliem, shivering like a stray, and begged for help. He had knowledge for me, in exchange for aid. He had corroborated Belial’s tale of Destiny leaving the Manor, with the additional threat he’d been told to pass on that I was not to interfere with Desterium’s life any further. Of course, I had tossed such threats aside. My daughter could do nothing against me.

Now, I was barely able to stop myself from killing all three of the men before me in fury. I had hoped her leaving the Manor had been a simple teenage spat, a tantrum over one thing or another that I could easily solve with a few honeyed words and a punishment, but rather than join me in my attack on the war camp, she had fought against me, keeping the Cord from me! Did the brat not understand what I had given up raising her?! Was she unaware of the sacrifices that had been made on my part to turn her into a weapon, a creature who could not be hurt by words or others?!

I should have seen it coming. I should have known that my daughter would never be loyal to anybody, once I had turned her into something that could be controlled by no one. Taking a deep breath, as well as a swig from a wine bottle that had been brought in, I calmed myself. There was still time to fix things. I could still find a way to manipulate her into coming back, and then kill her for her insolence. There was time.

Both of us were, after all, immortal, or at least my daughter would be in two years. I had all the time in the world to plan her destruction. It might not be now, in this war or lifetime, but eventually, I would get it.

Belial wanted nothing in exchange for the information he had given me, which surprised me, but I wasn’t going to complain- free information cost nothing.

The plan to destroy the war camp was already underway, but with it, I planned a few additional attacks. Ordeallan had already been damaged nearly beyond repair, but there were a few weapons, weapons from Earth’s time, that would ensure it never rebuilt.

When the Legacy War had begun, I had barely had enough time to grab a few of my favourite weapons, including a few drones.

Modern weaponry would bring The Borderlands to its knees, even with my daughter defending it. She had been a child when the Legacy War had broken out, and Cain had been the only one out of the two of them to actually fight against other countries, rather than other Super-Naturals. Cain had fought alongside humans, not just his own kind.

Belial, clearing his throat, lowered his copy of the plan onto the table, asking, “This plan could work, depending on how many soldiers you intend on utilising.”

“Over fifty-thousand.”

“You’re overrun. The Borderlands rallied a large force- over two-hundred-thousand, even with Leena having… pulled out… of the war.”

We simultaneously glanced over at the room off to the side, where we could hear a dull thumping and muffled screaming, the door shaking under the force of the thumping. Satalari had practically dumped what was left of the Queen of Ordeallan onto our doorstep. There hadn’t been much, since her ritual to raise Belial had used most of the Queen’s blood, but there had been enough, amid the burns, to distinguish just who had been dumped on our turf like a stray animal.

Figuring she might make a good bargaining chip later, I’d decided to keep her, if she could survive the conditions here. I certainly had no inclination of keeping my prisoners like guests in my room, like my daughter seemed inclined to do with her filthy Nephilim-Demonic-being Connected. Whatever he was, he was beginning to become a pain in my ass.

“Then I’ll send all of them. That will make us equally matched,” I said, and Belial whistled through his teeth, unconvinced. The Commander remained silent, clearly over his head, and in annoyance, I turned to him, snapping, “Go home.”

“What?” He squeaked, and slower, I repeated, “Go home, Commander. If I require you, I will summon you.”

“Is there anything you would like m-me to do while I’m waiting?”

I waved him away, and said, “No. Just keep out of the way.”

“What if your daughter comes after me?”

“Then pray for a quick death, because there isn’t much I can do for you on that front. If you’ve insulted her, it’s your own fault!” As he walked out, the thought of Seth Smith dancing across my mind, I snapped my fingers, summoning him back. He scampered over in a similar way my daughter used to, and I hissed, “You have soldiers?”

“A few… yes.” Belial leaned back, curious, and I said, “Can they be sent out? Are they skilled?”

“I would say so,” The Commander said, straightening slightly, “yes.”

“Kill Seth Smith. Bring me back definitive proof- Not a ring or a piece of clothing.”

“L-Like what?”

“Figure it out. A head, a finger- something that proves he is, without a doubt, dead. You have a week.”

He nodded sheepishly, and rushed out, looking afraid. I lifted my wine bottle again, and took another swig, waiting for that numbing sensation to take over, to obliterate my senses. I knew I would regret it later, knew what images it would bring, but I needed it. It was a lifeline. Tonight, there was another ball taking place in the newly-built throne room- perhaps I could find a lovely thing to take back to my rooms. Belial, sensing what was on my mind, smiled lazily, and asked, “Before her spat, how was your daughter? How was she acting?”

“The usual- Arrogant, stunning, pathetically weak.”

“Was she showing any signs of falling in love?”

There had been one incident that I had brushed off as cousin rivalry between Cain and Desterium. It had been the night of Sarah’s death, the anniversary, anyway, and I’d walked into the training room just in time for Desterium to tackle Cain to the ground, screaming at him about love.

“Do these questions have a point, Belial?” I growled, and Belial, studying his wine glass, said, “If you kill Seth, then I believe you will run into some trouble. I told you that your daughter was betraying you, but I’ve learnt some new secrets, or rather, I would like to reveal some secrets I’ve known for quite some time.”

“How? You’ve been here and in the Void. Unless your souls enjoy gossiping, there aren’t many ways to hear secrets.”

“The Void whispers to me wherever I go, Lord of Hell. I hear all. There is not a secret on this planet, or the others, that is safe from me. I know all.”

“What’s your secret then?”

“Your daughter has been rather close with her Connected. Close enough that the reason she entered the war was to save his lover, and close enough that, at one point, she was his lover. It seems being tortured by Satalari and Abel can really boggle the mind, can’t it? When she returned to Ordeallan after Abel’s attack, her and Seth decided to attack Agron’s forces in Tarvenia, and then, they slept with each other. A rather fitting way to celebrate a victory for the daughter of the Sin of Lust, isn’t it?”

I froze, and Belial’s grin widened until it was nearly ear-to-ear as the blood in my veins began to hum, fuelled by the wine and the fury I already had at Desterium’s leaving the Manor, and I slammed my fists onto the table, gripping it tightly enough that it should have broken the onyx.

Belial, wanting to stir the pot of anger just a tiny bit more, leaned forward, and in a goading tone, whispered, “Would you like to know something else, Lord of Hell? Your daughter was holding the Paradoxin Cord when you attacked her- That’s the very object that cost her the concentration you’ve trained her since birth to have. She wasn’t responding to the fact that someone called her disguise’s name, but rather the fact that they were tossing the Cord to her. It was on the battlefield the entire time.”

The onyx cracked beneath my fingers, and the Manor rumbled as my power filled its walls. I growled, and Belial winked, purring, “I shall end her for you, for a price, of course. You know fully well that we don’t work for free.”

“Name it.”

“I want her to remain in the Void. I quite like her company. If I kill her, you, and nobody else in this Manor, can ever raise her again. She remains dead.”

Gritting my teeth, I extended my hand, snarling, “Deal.”

Belial’s smile became one full of sharp teeth, and I felt a sharp burn on my wrist, a small marking appearing across it, curling around it like a cord, a physical reminder of our bargain…