An angel’s road to hell

83. Of transformations, memories and a little bit of truth

“I’d usually say someone is trying to frame me for cutting off a demon’s horn but since you’re not already jumping down my throat I assume I have a good alibi.” I leaned forward in my chair and carefully picked up the horn. It was surprisingly heavy and upon closer inspection I realised it wasn’t made of solid gold but had a dark, organic base with golden glyphs drawn over it until it appeared like a piece of metal. Residual energy still lingered within but it was dormant, cut off from its source. The silvery taint at the bottom was slowly spreading through the reservoir of magic in the horn and gradually turned it into something else.

No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t clearly make out what was going on. From my point of view the horn was filled with golden energy that had some streaks of black and red running through. A single thread of silvery-blue light curled through the centre and minuscule changes appeared wherever they came into contact. The Gold, Black and Red didn’t transform or anything obvious but a translucent sheen of blue and silver slowly appeared.

“Try spelling it, something basic, make it glow,” Chaleb’s quiet voice reached me. He was barely whispering and emitted a palpable tension. With a twist of my mind I sent the tiniest amount of mana into the horn and willed it to slowly deteriorate along its edges, generating light. I hadn’t expected the spectacle that followed. As soon as my energy touched the horn the silvery vein at its centre exploded outwards in a flash of light and burned away every last trace of my mana, leaving the magic it had already corrupted intact. The sparks of transcendent energy that had long ago spread through my astral body were another matter. They were tiny in comparison to the pulsing stream and nearly indiscernible as they had practically the same colour but when the torrent crashed into them they erupted in a blinding explosion that forced me to avert my eyes.

When I had blinked away the tears smoke rose from the glowing horn and the strange energy at its base was gone. The horn was completely coated in my transcendent energy, I could even feel it once I knew where to look. Instead of a simple light spell I had turned the thing into a lantern that would shine brightly even when the stars faded away. The energy contained within was back to its original lustre but instead of a silvery blue vein it had a meandering thread of scarlet at the centre.

“Unbelievable,” Chaleb was trembling with excitement. He gently picked up the horn and I could see him work some form of transmutation spell before he placed it back in the pouch and hid it in his robe again. I was staring, I didn’t have the faintest idea what I had just done and frankly, I was a little worried. A part of me was obviously related to something foreign, something I had never seen before. I couldn’t just let that go and I’d have my answers, one way or the other.

When he had finished nestling with his pockets Chaleb refilled both glasses and pushed one towards me. “Drink, we might be here a while and I assume, after what you just witnessed, that you’re quite glad you followed my invitation. Now then, I think it’d be for the best if I told you why I wanted you here and how I came to possess this little thing,” he patted his robe and continued: “unfortunately I have to give you a little bit of context so bear with me. A couple of centuries ago Delilah, one of us and incidentally the owner of the horn you’ve just seen came to me with an interesting proposal. She wanted my help in breaking a contract between demons and offered me something in return I had thought impossible: power. Not the flimsy, fleeting kind a new spell or ritual could provide but a real change to my essence, a chance to reforge myself in any way I liked.” My face must have betrayed my disbelieve because he immediately gestured for me to listen:

“I had the same look in my eyes when I heard her offer. Our cores can’t be changed, after all. Sure, you may engrave a rune or two on them but their essence remains immutable, isn’t that what you wanted to say?” I gave a small nod. “I was of the same opinion and laughed her out the door, which turned out to be one of my biggest mistakes. A few years ago I met her again by coincidence and she was still pissed at how I had treated her. We got into a fight and believe it or not, she wiped the floor with me and she shouldn’t have. I’m a damned knight of hell and there aren’t many immortals, angels and demons alike who could hope to hold their own against me. She didn’t even break a sweat. My magic couldn’t touch her for the most part, only the transcendent spells worked to some degree. She was physically strong, much stronger than anyone else I’ve ever encountered and I’ve had to deal with quite a few gods of battle, valour and strength over the ages.

After our fight she mocked me. “Should have taken me up on that offer, Chaleb. Look at you now, beaten and useless like the dog you always were,” and ran off, a satisfied smirk on her face. You can imagine what I did for the next couple of years. I dug for every scrap of information I could get, on her, on breached demonic contracts and on you. Don’t roll your eyes, the only other time my magic was thwarted was when I had to fight you. It wasn’t far fetched to assume some kind of connection and after what just happened with her horn I don’t think even you could be stubborn enough to claim that I was wrong. Now then, I’d much prefer to show you the next part.”

His brow furrowed and, like most mages when they concentrated on a spell, appeared constipated for a second. Swirls of energy formed around his mind and with a visible effort he expelled a fragment of memory that slowly turned on the spot between us. He gestured for me to inspect it and I leaned forwards, tendrils of my magic enveloped it. Similar to my second sight another scene overlaid reality and while I could still see the room we were in and the stars behind the windows, translucent figures appeared in my vision and a scene that had happened light years away played before my eyes.

I was standing on a cliff, Chaleb beside me in his full battle garb. The details were blurry and I couldn’t see into the distance but I was pretty certain that I was again on top of the cliffs of grief. This time, though, there was a veritable gathering of strange figures around me, all of them armed to their teeth. Magic was practically oozing from each and every one and they were clad in varying sorts of armour, one or two pieces even looked like they were made of primordial materials. I recognised two of them, a towering white furred lion who stood on his hind paws and wielded an immense, double-ended spear and a humanoid battle droid which housed an independent AI, both of them had been with Chaleb when last we had fought. If I had had to guess I’d have said that everyone around was a friend of his in one way or another and I had to admit, the sheer number was surprising, I counted 12 fighters by his side.

They stood there in silence and peered into the abyss, focused on something I couldn’t quite discern until Chaleb took a few steps forward. The foot of the cliff suddenly became sharp and I saw a beautiful succubus prancing towards the entrance below us. She had perfect proportions, pale skin, silky, black hair that swirled behind her like a veil of shadows, a long tail which ended in a a heart-shaped, ruby tip and a set of graceful wings, neatly folded on her back. Two small horns parted her cascading hair above either side of her forehead, they glittered golden wherever the sparse light of the void would touch them. I had never talked to her before and only seen her from afar a few times but that was without a doubt Delilah, the lady of insanity and she most definitely still had both of her horns.

Like a wave of energy I felt everyone’s attention shift to Chaleb and he nodded, once. “Now,” was all he said before the gates of hell opened, at least metaphorically. The earth around Delilah shifted and faster than a thought, jaws made from sickly green void crystals shot up around her, smashing shut with a thunderclap. At the same moment, fiery bands of energy coiled around the closed trap and formed a burning cage around it, slowly cutting through the crystals and towards Delilah. Space warped around me when several spells transported most of the warriors on the cliff and they appeared right next to the caught demoness. In utter silence they attacked her prison, weapons, spells and pure ferocity shook the void and I felt more than thankful that Chaleb had never set up an ambush for me. Which made me think, all of that because Delilah kicked his ass and displayed more strength than he had expected? Hell hath no fury like an ego scorned...

I already expected a quick resolution and a gruesome scene where Chaleb cut off her horns before he’d chain her up or kill her outright but I was just as wrong as the poor lads who had attacked her and had thought they’d get somewhere. The sphere of void crystals erupted in a fountain of splitters and magic, a colossal shockwave interspersed with scarlet streaks of light blew her attackers back and reduced everything within a 50 meter radius to dust. From the crater rose an abomination, I couldn’t put it any other way. Delilah had grown and pulsing muscles covered her frame like amour. Her horns were hidden beneath a sea of swirling threads of darkness her hair had turned into but what truly made me worried were her wings. They had changed to accommodate her new body, the elegance and sultry allure of the velvet folds transformed into bat like appendages with additional spikes and razor sharp edges. Veins of silvery blue light pulsed along the arteries and the same sheen I had seen invade the magic of the horn clung to her skin.

Blasts of energy rained down on her and the melee fighters were again closing in when she screamed. A sound of pure madness, fuelled by anger and a gnawing hunger I had never expected from an immortal smashed against us and I could feel my body react, even though it was just a memory. My wings manifested and I dropped into a crouch before I regained my composure and refocused on the memory.

The scene had changed into devastation incarnate, of Chaleb’s soldier only 7 had managed to survive besides himself. The rest was withering away before my eyes, their bodies and even amour slowly tuning grey and crumbling away until all that remained was a heap of dried up slack. Of the others, four were staring at Delilah with a mixture of desperation and admiration before they dropped their weapons and fell to their knees. The proud group had been reduced to Chaleb, the white lion, the AI and a tall figure in bright blue servo armour who silently redoubled his grip on his war hammer, seemingly unfazed.

Chaleb’s gaze wandered over his fallen comrades and a look of disgust flashed across his face when he turned back to Delilah. Deadly calm he spit out an order: “do it, Cel. I’m sorry.” The battle droid saluted and a set of enchantments, engraved all over his body glowed ominously before he vanished in a purple flash of light. A sphere of the same colour appeared around Delilah the very same instant and without any form of warning blinked out of existence. The last thing I saw before the memory started to dissipate was a golden shimmer when one of her horns dropped to the ground, neatly severed at the base. Silence and the uncaring smile of the stars greeted me when I looked up.

“Did you kill her current incarnation?” My voice was much raspier than I’d have liked.

“Far from it, Cell displace her into a black hole but I have it on good authority that she’s out already. What do you think?”

“One, you’re an ass. That you pulled others into this who aren’t immortals was dumb. Why didn’t you ask some of your brothers or sisters and why did you attack her in the first place? Two, why did you only become nervous when you returned form your meeting with Khan? You should have had that horn in your possession for much longer. Three, I can’t deny that there has to be some kind of link between my powers and whatever happened to Delilah, the colour and the way it reacted to my magic are just too obvious to ignore. But I swear, I haven’t got the foggiest idea what it could be or what you want of me.”

“Unfortunately I believe you, otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I didn’t involve anyone, by the way. They wanted to come and you of all people should understand why I respected their choice. The better question would be, why were they there, even though they knew the risks. Allow me to ask a question: assuming what you saw and did wasn’t a figment of our imagination or some elaborate scheme of mine, what do you think happened to Delilah?”

“How should I know? I’d have to guess. She apparently absorbed some kind of energy that changed her, assuming the she hulk isn’t just part of her natural charm. From what I’ve seen it almost looks like she has been infected and whatever it is, is spreading through her, slowly transforming her magic, quite literally like a disease. It makes her stronger but also… hungry.”

“Precisely. Here is what I think: Delilah recently came into the contact with the same thing that infected you, ages ago. Unfortunately she doesn’t have your immunities and suffers from the rather severe side effects.” I stared at him incredulously.

“I’ve never been sick and I can’t remember anything that would even remotely suggest I came into contact with a core altering substance. We both know something like that would be engraved on my core for all eternity, especially if it was transformed somehow.”

“Unless it happened during the first war,” Chaleb replied quietly. “Nearly all of us gave up their memories of that time and it’s safe to assume that we also suppressed our cores’ recollection to make sure it stayed that way. Think about it, you practically subjugated the energy in Delilah’s horn, pardon the analogy, almost like a purer strain would consume the virus in a younger vampire and make it their own. It may sound outlandish but I have good reasons to believe it’s true. For one, I found out that Delilah broke a contract with Amazeroth, one of the only beings who still remember the first war. Gabriel and Michael helped her, otherwise she would have failed miserably, the second one with his memories intact and your much beloved brother. That alone would be enough to make me suspicious. I don’t know what they did but ever since Delilah has quietly been forming alliances with different demons. Nobody wants to talk but from what I’ve gathered she’s promoting an allegiance between heaven and hell to change the multiverse to our liking, something that might sound familiar to you. Needless to say she’s found quite a lot of willing supporters among us. That was when I decided to confront her.” He seemed disturbed by the thought of an immortal rule which made me dislike him just a little less.

“When we met in front of hell’s entry, I had just come back from a fruitless expedition to look for you after I had gotten ahold of the horn. There were just too many signs for me to ignore. The similar energy, Delilah’s and Michael’s shared proposals and of course you as the villain of the piece. I wanted to hear your side of the story but when we arrived and Khan told me what he had found out and a more direct approached seemed in order. I showed you the horn. You see, when last we fought you left quite a bit of blood on my axe I manage to distill the tiniest mote of energy form it, not enough for a focus but enough to test it against a sample from Delilah. I’m not good with those things and I used my resources around here to make up for it. Khan brought me the results when we walked it. Lucifer, they’re practically the same except that your transcendent reservoirs are pure and hers are still diluted by her original energy.”